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NEVER    GROW    OLD 


NEVER  GROW  OLD 

HOW    TO    LIVE    FOR    MORE   THAN 
ONE   HUNDRED   YEARS 


BY 
DR.   L.  H.  GOIZET 

OP   THE    FACULTY   OF   PARIS 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW   YORK   AND    LONDON 

Ube  fmfcfeerbocfcer  press 
1920 


COPYRIGHT,  1920 

BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


TO  THE  READER 

fl 

j     To  live  more  than  one  hundred  years  in 

^  beauty,  that  is  in  the  fullness  of  strength  and 

''health,   to  arrive  at  the  final  goal  without 

having  known  either  the  afflictions  or  weak- 

1  nesses  of  old  age,  is  not  a  Utopian  dream.    It 
f  is  a  reality  which  we  all  have  a  right  to  claim, 
x      Certain  physiological  phenomena,  which  I 

.  have  observed  and  meditated  upon  for  a  long 

J  time,  have  led  me  to  the  discovery  of  the  law 

^whioh   governs   the   formation   of   organized 

A 

2  beings ;  and  have  brought  me  to  the  convic- 
tion that  most  of  the  misery  of  existence  can 
be  avoided,  and  that  the  duration  of  life  can 
be  considerably  increased. 

In  this  book  I  set  forth  the  reasons  that 
have  given  birth  to  my  conviction.  These 
reasons  are  based  upon  the  unalterable  Law 
of  universal  movement  that  rules  everything, 

5 


To  the  Reader 

— the  life  of  the  worlds  and  the  life  of  beings, — 
and  also  on  many  unvarying  facts,  often 
renewed,  always  renewable. 

For  myself  then  the  demonstration  is  made. 
It  is  evolved  from  logic  and  from  facts,  bright 
and  radiant,  as  inevitable  as  an  axiom  of 
geometry. 

Yes! 

/  assert  that  we  can  live  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years,  without  knowing  the  weaknesses  of 
old  age  nor  the  physical  pains  of  life. 

For  man  to  live  one  hundred  years  is  not  un- 
heard of.  Every  year  brings  us  the  announce- 
ment that  a  town  or  a  village  has  celebrated 
the  centenary  of  one  of  its  inhabitants.  Still, 
such  longevity  is  certainly  exceptional. 

To  change  this  exception  into  a  common 
rule  for  all,  to  enjoy  a  century  long  beautiful 
career,  without  losing  a  single  attribute  of 
youth,  and  to  arrive  at  the  end  without  hav- 
ing experienced  either  suffering  or  feebleness — 
in  a  word  without  getting  old — this  is  new  and 
of  vital  interest  to  humanity. 

The  means  of  realizing  that  beautiful  dream 
6 


To  the  Reader 

are  extremely  simple.  Any  one  may  accom- 
plish it  for  himself  in  an  efficacious  way, 
without  help  and  without  expense  beyond  a 
few  moments  of  his  time  daily. 

The  only  thing  necessary  is  the  introduction 
to  my  method. 

This  then  is  the  aim  of  my  book.  I  am 
convinced  that  by  reading  it  you  will  be  able 
to  enjoy  henceforth  all  the  blessings  of  a  long 
existence  from  which  physical  pain  will  be 
banished. 

Read  this  book;  grasp  firmly  the  principles 
it  contains  and  the  practical  means  of  apply- 
ing them.  Then,  when  you  have  read,  TRY 
IT.  The  benefits,  quickly  acquired,  will  be 
such  that  you  will  not,  I  am  sure,  regret  the 
time  spent  upon  the  experiment. 

L.  H.  G. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY  i i 


I. — WHAT  is  LIFE?          .         .         .         .19 

II. — MOVEMENT  is  NOT  THE  WHOLE  OF  LIFE  22 

III. — How  WE  LIVE  .....  25 

IV. — WHY  WE  DIE — Is  DEATH  INEVITABLE?  36 

V. — CAN  LIFE  BE  PROLONGED?          .         .  42 

VI. — FORM  AND  DIRECTION  OF  THE  VITAL 
CURRENT.      THE    CIRCULATION    OF 

THE  B LOOD  IS  NOT  THE  VlTAL  CURRENT  47 

VII. — THE  REVEALING  ELM.    ORIGIN  OF  THE 

METHOD         .....  51 

VIII.— FORM 63 

PART  II 

I. — THE  METHOD    .         .         .         .         .81 

II. — CAUSES  OF  ALTERATION  IN  FORM       .  87 


Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

III. — COMBINATION  OF  THE  MEANS  OF  ACTION 

OF  THE  METHOD     ....       96 

IV. — THE  RECTITUDE  OF  FORMS         .         .109 

V. — ALTERATIONS  OF  THE  FORM        .         .     117 

VI. — RECTIFICATION  OF  THE  FORM     .         .133 

VII. — LIVE  IN  BEAUTY  !    LIVELONG!    NEVER 

GROW  OLD! 169 


10 


INTRODUCTORY 

IN  glancing  over  the  scientific  discoveries 
whose  realization  is  the  glory  of  the  last  cen- 
tury and  the  first  years  of  the  century  into 
which  we  have  just  entered,  one  is  struck  by 
the  sterility  of  the  efforts  made  to  hasten  the 
advance  of  medico-physiological  knowledge. 

In  the  midst  of  the  immense  development 
achieved  in  all  branches  of  the  positive  sci- 
ences, medicine  and  physiology  have  mani- 
festly remained  in  the  rear. 

Beliefs  are  as  variable  as  styles.  Nothing 
is  precise,  nothing  durable.  What  is  declared 
indispensable  today  will  be  forbidden  tomor- 
row as  harmful.  What  yesterday  was  the 
elixir  of  life  is  today  the  agent  of  death. 
Toowd  thirty  years  ago,  with  his  alcohol  dose, 
was  a  god  who  worked  miracles.  In  our  time 
he  would  be  accused  of  poisoning,  and  be  held 

ii 


Introductory 

responsible  for  all  the  physical  and  moral  de- 
generacies which  afflict  our  present  generation. 

After  all,  statistics  show  us  that  under  what- 
ever medical  regime  we  live,  the  percentage  of 
mortality  scarcely  varies. 

The  incoherence  of  the  doctrines,  their  di- 
versity, their  short  duration,  are  evidence  that 
their  lack  of  viability  is  due  mainly  to  the 
weakness  of  the  bases  upon  which  they  rest. 
Of  all  these  beliefs,  nothing  will  last. 

Truth  is  eternal.  What  is  true  today  can- 
not be  false  tomorrow. 

Why  have  the  medico-physiological  sciences 
been  so  long  stationary,  when  all  the  other 
branches  of  physical  and  chemical  knowledge 
have  advanced  so  rapidly?  I  think  I  can  tell 
you,  with  some  reason,  that  the  real  cause  of 
that  stagnation  rests  wholly  in  the  defective 
orientation  of  the  method  of  the  attempted 
researches. 

The  knowledge  of  anatomy  marks  a  most 
important  date  in  the  study  of  medico-physi- 
ological science.  But  for  too  long  we  have 
taken  as  the  sole  point  of  departure  for  all 

12 


Introductory 

medico-physiological  investigation  a  science 
which,  however  indispensable  it  may  be  for 
the  study  of  medicine,  can  give  only  the  analy- 
sis of  death.  In  vain  you  will  search  the 
corpse,  for  you  will  never  find  anything  but  a 
motionless  machine.  Movement,  force,  action 
being  absent,  have  left  nothing  of  their  pre- 
sence but  an  inert  residue;  springs,  levers, 
organs  unable  to  give  up  the  secret  of  their 
mutual  combinations  whose  result  was  life. 
That  field  of  death  has  produced  all  it  could. 
We  must  look  elsewhere. 

Nearer  to  us,  Pasteur  has  just  opened  a 
new  road  to  the  investigations  of  science;  and 
a  great  number  of  facts  have  demonstrated 
the  good  founded  on  his  theory.  Humanity 
has  already  sufficiently  benefited  from  this 
very  valuable  discovery  forever  to  immortalize 
the  name  pf  its  originator.  Still,  we  can  not 
make  generalizations  from  the  partial  results 
obtained  on  certain  points,  in  spite  of  the 
number,  faith,  zeal,  and  patience  of  the  dis- 
ciples who  continue  to  explore  the  field  opened 
by  the  Master. 

13 


Introductory 

If  this  is  so,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  Pasteur, 
in  spite  of  his  genius,  had  a  glimpse  of  only 
one  of  the  numerous  applications  of  the  Great 
Law — the  Sole  Law  that  rules  the  life  of 
beings, — and  not  the  Law  itself. 

The  future  will  tell  us. 

If  once  more  our  hopes  are  not  completely 
realized,  it  is  because  the  point  of  departure 
of  the  illustrious  scholar's  researches  lacked 
precision,  and  that,  for  this  reason,  the  greater 
part  of  the  scientific  truth  has  stayed  hidden. 

Instead  of  bending  over  the  corpse,  instead 
of  turning  the  eye  of  the  microscope  upon  the 
diseased  organism  to  verify  the  presence  there 
of  the  infinitely  small  causes  or  products  of  its 
fall,  would  it  not  be  better  to  lift  up  your  head 
and  turn  towards  the  sources  of  life, — that  is 
toward  the  universal  motion  of  the  worlds? 

Instead  of  looking  at  the  vital  river  when 
it  has  left  its  banks  to  dash  itself  into  the  deep 
ocean  of  death,  is  it  not  more  logical,  in  order 
to  fathom  the  mystery,  to  start  at  its  source 
and  to  follow  it  through  all  its  wanderings  to 
its  mouth? 

14 


Introductory 

It  is  only  in  studying  the  working  of  the 
immutable  laws  that  govern  the  progress  of 
the  life  of  worlds  and  of  beings  that  we  shall 
be  able  satisfactorily  to  solve  these  vital 
problems. 

1.  What  is  life? 

2.  How  do  we  live? 

3.  Why  do  we  die? 

4.  Is  death  inevitable? 

5.  Can  life  be  improved? 

6.  Can  the  duration  of  life  be  prolonged  and 
in  what  proportion? 


PART  I 


NEVER  GROW  OLD 


PART  I 

CHAPTER  I 

WHAT  IS  LIFE? 

LIFE  is  the  result  of  the  functioning  of  all  the 
organs  which  constitute  an  organized  body. 

What  is  the  evident  manifestation  of  life? 

Motion. 

What  is  the  element  necessary  for  the  pro- 
duction of  movement? 

Motive  force. 

What  is  necessary  to  produce  a  generating 
force  which  in  itself  is  a  movement? 

A  motor. 

What  is  the  motor  that  furnishes  and  dis- 
tributes motion  to  the  organized  bodies  placed 
on  earth? 

19 


Never  Grow  Old 

The  earth  itself,  by  its  own  motion,  gener- 
ates the  motive  power  necessary  to  operate  the 
various  organs  whose  functions  constitute  life 
among  organized  beings,  which  are  always  in 
contact  with  it  or  with  the  surrounding 
atmosphere. 

Whence  does  the  earth  get  the  power  that 
it  gives  to  the  organisms  for  which  it  must 
provide  motion? 

From  the  great  universal  motor  of  which  it 
is  itself  one  of  the  parts,  and  which  is  called 
the  planetary  system.  The  planets,  bound  to- 
gether by  force  of  attraction,  and  animated 
by  a  movement  regulated  by  the  immutable 
laws,  in  their  entirety  form  a  perfect  motor, 
generator  of  the  general  force  which  is  redis- 
tributed to  each  planet  according  to  its  needs. 

What  is  the  force  which  gives  movement  to 
the  planetary  system? 

This  force  is  the  initial  force,  generator  of 
all  life.  It  governs  the  harmony  of  the  worlds 
and  the  relation  that  binds  them  together. 
Although  it  is  undeniable  on  account  of  its 
obvious  manifestations  my  eyes  are  not  sharp 

20 


What  Is  Life? 

enough,  my  intelligence  is  too  limited,  to  allow 
me  to  state  it  precisely,  and  to  fathom  the 
mystery  of  all  of  its  powers.  I  will  restrict 
my  ambition  to  searching  for  and  discovering 
by  deduction  if  I  can,  the  mechanism  which 
gives  life  to  the  organized  beings  placed  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  renews  it  con- 
stantly in  them.  My  researches  will  not  go 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  planetary  system 
whose  movements  are  ruled  by  the  immutable 
laws  which  have  been  disclosed  by  the  dis- 
coveries of  Copernicus  and  Keppler. 


21 


CHAPTER  II 

MOVEMENT  IS  NOT  THE  WHOLE  OF  LIFE 

IT  is  by  movement  that  life  reveals  its  pre- 
sence in  organized  beings.  Movement  is  insep- 
arable from  life,  but  it  is  not  the  whole  of  life. 
It  is  only  the  expression  and  resultant ;  it  must 
not  be  confused  with  life  itself.  One  example 
will  suffice  to  understand  this.  An  engineer 
may  give  movement  to  his  machine,  but  he 
can  not  give  it  a  particle  of  the  life  which  he 
himself  has.  A  horse  gives  movement  to  the 
carriage  he  pulls, — this,  however,  still  remains 
an  inert  thing.  In  vain  we  move  a  corpse,  we 
cannot  give  it  back  its  life.  Since  a  body  in 
motion  is  not  by  that  fact  a  living  body,  move- 
ment by  itself  does  not  constitute  life. 

Life,  by  its  presence,  brings  to  the  one  that 
receives  it  movement,  together  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  he  has  taken  possession  of  a 

22 


Movement  Is  Not  the  Whole  of  Life 

precious  gift,  and  the  will  power,  instinct,  or 
intelligence  which  suggests  the  means  to  de- 
fend that  gift  if  it  is  threatened,  and  also  to 
transmit  it  to  individuals  similar  to  himself  in 
order  to  perpetuate  the  species  to  which  he 
belongs. 

Movement  is  an  attribute  of  every  organ- 
ized being.  Man  may  produce  it  in  propor- 
tion to  his  strength.  Life  emanates  from  a 
superior  power,  unknown  up  to  now,  and  in 
possession  of  the  initial  creative  force  of  every- 
thing,— of  matter  and  of  life  itself.  Accord- 
ingly life  must  be  defined: 

A  direct  emanation  of  the  initial  creative 
force  which  manifests  itself  in  the  creature  by  the 
functional  movement  of  the  organs  whose  mission 
is  to  maintain  it;  and  by  the  consciousness  of 
the  obligation  for  the  creature  to  keep,  defend,  and 
pass  on,  so  that  it  may  not  perish,  the  sacred 
trust  which  he  has  received. 

I  do  not  presume  to  explain  to  my  readers 
the  confusing  mystery  of  creation.  I  am  con- 
tent to  admire  the  fact  that  dazzles  my  eyes 
by  the  splendour  of  its  incontestable  reality: 

23 


Never  Grow  Old 

"The  universe  and  the  varied  organisms  that 
swarm  over  its  surface  and  of  which  I  am  a 
part." 

I  do  not  explain  the  phenomenon;  I  state  it. 

But  if  it  is  beyond  our  strength  to  fathom 
the  mysteries  of  creation,  it  is  at  least  per- 
missible to  allow  our  intelligence,  our  faculty 
of  observation,  to  try  to  understand  by  what 
mechanism  the  life  that  we  received  at  birth 
from  our  ancestors  and  possess  fully  from  that 
time  keeps  on  in  us;  and  also  why  it  ceases  to 
pursue  its  course;  in  a  word,  to  understand 
how  we  live,  and  why  we  die. 


24 


CHAPTER  III 

HOW  WE  LIVE 

To  facilitate  the  account  of  the  theory  on 
which  my  conviction  and  method  rests,  I  will 
choose,  as  symbol  of  my  observation,  man, 
that  is,  the  individual  who  has  been  able  to 
dominate  all  the  others  by  his  superior  intelli- 
gence, and  whose  existence  interests  us 
particularly. 

Without  trying  any  longer  to  find  out  how 
man  made  his  first  appearance  on  earth,  I 
will  try  to  follow  in  him  the  mechanism  of 
life,  and  demonstrate  by  reasoning  and  by 
facts  in  what  way  he  can  maintain  in  his  organs 
the  life  he  received  from  his  ancestors. 

It  is  at  the  precise  moment  of  his  birth,  in 
taking  contact  with  the  earth,  that  man  obtains 
his  individuality. 

Henceforth  he  lives  his  own  life,  his  unit  is 
25 


Never  Grow  Old 

added  to  the  units  existing  before  him  to 
constitute  mankind. 

The  child  is  then  on  earth,  where  he  has  been 
projected  by  virtue  of  a  force  independent  of  his 
will,  independent  also  of  the  will  of  his  direct 
authors,  but  ruled  by  the  unchanging  laws  of 
movement  and  weight,  laws  which  he  is  com- 
pelled to  obey  and  against  which  he  cannot  fight. 

There  he  is,  trustee  of  the  life  he  has  re- 
ceived, and  which  manifests  itself  in  him  by 
the  functioning  of  the  organs  that  make  him. 

At  that  very  moment  he  contracts  the  obli- 
gation to  preserve  by  his  own  means  the  life 
which  he  holds  from  his  progenitors. 

To  accomplish  the  unknown  mission  to 
which  he  is  destined,  he  will  have  to  furnish 
fuel  to  the  motor  that  gives  him  life, — that  is, 
the  food  indispensable  for  its  working.  How 
will  he  get  that  food?  For  that  purpose  provi- 
dent nature  has  furnished  him  with  special 
organs  ready  to  function  at  the  very  moment 
he  comes  into  life.  They  are  the  organs  of  di- 
gestion, circulation,  respiration,  and  excretion. 

During  the  intra-uterine  life,  the  r61e  of 
26 


How  We  Live 

these  organs  was  negative.  Food  was  pro- 
duced and  furnished  by  the  mother.  The 
heart  of  the  foetus  has  only  one  function  to 
fulfil,  that  of  distributing  the  nourishment 
received  without  being  allowed  the  selection  of 
it.  The  act  of  hematosis  was  accomplished  in 
the  lungs  and  surrounding  tissues  of  the 
mother,  and  the  wastes  of  combustion  were 
thrown  off  through  the  respiratory,  urinary, 
and  cutaneous  channels  of  the  mother.  In  a 
word,  during  all  that  period  the  child  lived 
and  grew  solely  by  the  materials  emanating 
directly  from  the  functional  work  of  the  ma- 
ternal organs.  As  soon  as  he  begins  to  live, 
everything  changes  for  him.  He  finds  that  he 
has  as  sole  vital  reserve,  the  blood  of  which 
his  veins  are  full.  But  in  order  that  this  blood 
may  be  utilized  for  the  upkeep  of  life,  it  must 
be  regenerated  by  the  action  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and  replaced  by  a  constantly  new  supply 
in  the  veins,  in  proportion  to  its  transforma- 
tion into  the  living  cell.  Therefore  nature, 
foreseeing  all  these  obligations,  has  found  the 
way  to  provide  for  it. 

27 


Never  Grow  Old 

THE  RIVERS  OF  LIFE 

The  heart  during  the  last  days  of  the  intra- 
uterine  life  has  completed  its  partitions;  this 
will  allow  it  to  effect  the  selection  of  venous 
and  arterial  blood.  The  lungs  are  opened  un- 
der the  impulsion  of  the  venous  blood  and  in 
that  movement  of  dilatation,  inhale  the  air 
which,  through  the  vascular  walls,  by  its  re- 
generative contact,  purifies  and  warms  the 
worn-out  blood,  transforming  it  into  arterial 
blood.  Meanwhile  the  intestines  have  not 
been  inactive,  and  have  cleansed  themselves 
of  all  impure  matter.  Their  glands  have  se- 
creted their  respective  juices  intended  to  im- 
pregnate the  food  from  outside  and  render  it 
fit  for  absorption,  after  having  cleared  it  of  all 
the  excremental  residuum.  The  lungs,  the 
kidneys,  and  the  skin  are  equally  ready  to  ful- 
fil their  functions  of  the  elimination  of  waste. 

It  is  by  the  functional  harmony  of  all  these 
organs,  quickened  by  the  nervous  influx,  that 
life  will  continue  its  regular  course. 

We  are  able  now  to  follow  the  nutritive  mole- 
28 


How  We  Live 

cule  from  the  time  when,  worked  over  in  the 
digestive  tube,  it  is  ready  for  absorption.  It 
is  then  that  the  work  of  the  circulatory  and 
respiratory  apparatus  begins. 

The  organism  of  the  circulatory  apparatus 
includes  the  veins,  the  chyliferous  and  lym- 
phatic vessels,  the  arteries,  and  finally  the 
heart,  the  principal  organ. 

The  heart  represents  the  suction  and  forc- 
ing pump  whose  mission  is  to  draw  into  the 
digestive  tube  and  the  lymphatic  ganglions 
the  materials  necessary  for  the  formation  of 
the  nutritive  molecule  and  to  drive  them  back 
into  the  great  vital  current. 

One  must  not  confuse  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  with  the  vital  current,  nor  the  blood 
with  the  living  cells  whose  sum  is  man  himself. 
The  materials  of  nutrition  as  long  as  they  are 
in  the  circulatory  network,  are  completely  iso- 
lated by  the  walls  of  those  vessels  from  the 
current  of  life;  and  although  they  travel  over 
and  penetrate  the  individual  in  all  directions 
and  everywhere,  they  are  not  yet  incorporated 
in  him.  The  blood  constitutes,  therefore,  an 

29 


Never  Grow  Old 

independent  stream  which  brings  and  empties 
into  the  great  vital  current  the  principles 
necessary  to  the  formation  of  the  living  cell. 

The  whole  circulatory  system  is  equivalent 
to  a  revictualling  network  for  the  great  vital 
current,  which,  always  going  from  cell  to  cell, 
burns  for  the  maintenance  of  its  movement  a 
certain  quantity  of  these  cells  that  it  is  obliged 
to  renew  in  proportion  to  their  destruction  in 
order  to  assure  its  continuity.  It  is  these  sub- 
stances, brought  by  the  blood,  which  will  fur- 
nish, by  a  new  combination  effected  in  the 
smallest  network  of  the  final  arterial  ramifica- 
tions, the  constituent  elements  of  the  cell 
destined  to  replace  the  burnt  cell. 

The  veins,  the  chyliferous  and  lymphatic 
vessels  represent  the  absorbent  system  which 
by  millions  of  mouths  open  at  the  surface  of 
the  mucous  membranes  of  the  stomach  and 
the  intestines  as  well  as  in  the  lymphatic  gang- 
lions, draws  the  nutritious  molecule  into  these 
alimentary  reservoirs.  This  absorbent  net- 
work is  connected  with  the  heart  by  the  trunks 
of  the  sub-clavian  veins ;  and  at  the  first  move- 
so 


How  We  Live 

ment  of  diastole  of  the  heart,  all  these  mouths 
inhale  the  nutritive  materials  which  rush  into 
the  vessels  and  pass  out  into  the  heart  through 
the  sub-clavian  veins,  their  terminal  point. 
There  the  mixing  of  their  respective  portions 
takes  place.  The  r61e  of  the  absorbent  net- 
work is  finished;  that  of  the  distributing  ves- 
sels, the  arteries,  is  soon  to  begin.  But  first 
a  physical  phenomenon  of  utmost  importance 
must  take  place.  Through  the  pulmonary 
artery  the  blood  goes  from  the  heart  to  the 
lungs  where  it  penetrates  the  finest  vascular 
ramifications.  Under  this  influence  the  pul- 
monary vesicles  open,  summoning  the  air 
which  fills  them  immediately  and  maintains 
itself  there  by  the  pressure  from  outside. 
Then,  through  these  vascular  walls,  an  admir- 
able and  beneficial  phenomenon  occurs.  A 
mysterious  exchange  of  gas  is  effected.  The 
venous  blood  arrives  in  the  lungs  charged  with 
carbonic  acid  whose  presence  has  lowered  its 
temperature,  and  the  air  inflates  the  pulmon- 
ary vesicles.  Through  the  walls  which  sepa- 
rate them  the  air  takes  contact  with  the  venous 


Never  Grow  Old 

blood  which  it  purifies  and  regenerates  by  a 
portion  of  its  oxygen  at  the  same  time  freeing 
it  from  the  carbonic  acid,  which  is  exhaled 
with  the  gases  of  expiration.  The  reaction 
which  takes  place  at  this  contact  suffices  to 
raise  the  temperature  of  the  blood  which,  now 
renewed  and  warmed  by  the  hematosis,  goes 
back  to  the  heart  by  the  channel  of  the  pul- 
monary veins.  It  is  this  new  blood,  become 
arterial  blood,  which  the  systolic  contraction 
of  the  heart  will  force  into  the  arteries,  which 
will  carry  it  to  the  periphery  of  all  the  organs 
up  to  the  finest  ramifications  of  the  capillary 
vessels  which  form  the  extreme  limits  of  the 
arterial  system. 

The  chyle,  the  lymph,  and  the  venous 
blood,  these  are  the  liquids,  carriers  of  the 
materials  of  nutrition,  which  are  all  united  and 
modified  by  this  marvellous  combination 
which  carries  them  from  the  heart  to  the 
lungs  where  the  air,  through  the  vascular  walls, 
transforms  them  into  arterial  blood  after 
having  purified  and  warmed  them.  It  is  the 
arterial  blood  which  under  the  influence  of  the 

32 


How  We  Live 

heart,  is  forced  into  the  arteries,  and  bathes 
the  entire  organism  without,  however,  leaving 
the  vessels  which  constitute  the  circulatory 
system. 

Is  there  not  a  manifest  analogy  between 
this  invasion  of  the  whole  organism  by  the 
arterial  blood,  and  the  invasion  of  the  lungs 
by  the  venous  blood?  And  does  not  this 
analogy  lead  us  to  expect  that  at  this  terminal 
point  of  the  arterial  system  a  new  phenome- 
non, identical  with  that  of  hematosis,  will  take 
place?1 — the  ultimate  phenomenon  that  will 
render  the  revictualling  materials  capable  of 
leaving  definitely  the  circulatory  channels  to 
enter,  under  the  guise  of  a  living  cell,  the 
subcutaneous  cellular  ocean  which  is  the  great 
reservoir  of  nutrition.  This  phenomenon  is 
the  invasion  of  the  surrounding  air  which, 
under  the  influence  of  atmospheric  pressure, 
penetrates  all  the  pores  of  the  skin.  It  thus 
reaches  by  endosmosis  the  arterial  blood, 
which  it  transforms  by  a  last  and  sublime 
reaction  into  living  molecules,  capable  of  fol- 
lowing the  universal  circulatory  movement 
»  33 


Never  Grow  Old 

which  draws  them,  through  unvarying  chan- 
nels from  cell  to  cell,  following  the  movement 
of  inspiration  and  expiration  which  calls  and 
repels  them  successively,  obliging  them  to 
escape  by  the  channels  of  excretion  and 
secretion. 

This  movement  of  the  great  vital  current  is 
what  animates  and  makes  up  all  organized 
beings. 

Once  arrived  at  the  extreme  confines  of  the 
peripheral  arterial  network,  when  its  ultimate 
transformation  is  accomplished,  the  nutritive 
molecule,  by  exosmosis  or  transudation,  will 
leave  the  vascular  system  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  to  enter  and  take  its  place  in  the 
real  vital  current.  But  in  this  vital  molecu- 
lar movement  traversing  the  whole  organism 
from  cell  to  cell,  carrying  with  it  some  ele- 
ments always  new  drawn  from  the  alimentary 
sources,  the  air  always  accompanies  the  mole- 
cule, and  it  is  this  which  effects  the  nutrition. 

The  surrounding  fluid  owes  its  power  of  re- 
novation to  the  infinite  fluid, — the  ether  which 
envelopes  our  atmosphere  and  which  pene- 

34 


How  We  Live 

trates  and  purifies  it  by  impregnating  it  with 
the  principles  of  life  of  which  it  is  the  inex- 
haustible source. 

In  living  bodies  everything  is  in  movement, 
nothing  can  stop;  repose  exists  only  in  death. 
Life  is  made  up  of  a  permanent  movement 
of  assimilation  and  disassimilation  in  an  in- 
definite succession. 

It  is  by  the  regular  and  uninterrupted  func- 
tioning of  this  double  current  of  assimilation 
and  disassimilation,  true  streams  of  life,  that 
this  life  will  be  sustained  and  always  renewed. 

As  long  as  nothing  disturbs  the  course  of 
the  adducent  vessels  which  imbibe  and  dis- 
tribute the  assimilable  nutritive  molecule,  nor 
that  of  the  abducent  vessels  obliged  to  carry 
off  the  worn-out  materials,  which  have  become 
strange  and  harmful  to  the  individual,  he  will 
continue  to  live. 


35 


CHAPTER  IV 

WHY  WE  DIE — IS  DEATH  INEVITABLE? 

LET  us  imagine  an  engine  in  good  condition, 
leaving  the  factory  in  perfect  order  and  enter- 
ing into  service.  However  perfect  its  forma- 
tion, whatever  the  quality  of  the  materials 
which  entered  into  its  construction,  whatever 
the  care  which  may  be  given  it,  this  machine, 
logically,  by  the  very  fact  of  its  functioning, 
by  the  friction  of  its  constituent  parts,  will 
wear  out.  After  a  lapse  of  time  more  or  less 
long  it  will  cease  to  function. 

There  is  nothing  abnormal  in  this  fact  which 
we  can  prove  daily  by  all  the  objects  we  em- 
ploy in  our  everyday  life.  These  objects  are 
composed  of  inert  matter  which  disintegrates 
with  usage.  Each  day  some  particles  of  their 
molecules  are  separated  from  the  mass,  and 
one  day  the  object  becomes  unserviceable. 

36 


Why  We  Die— Is  Death  Inevitable  ? 

This  is  inevitable  since  each  particle  which  is 
worn  out  and  disappears  is  not  replaced. 
When  the  event  takes  place,  however  dis- 
agreeable it  may  be,  it  does  not  surprise  us, 
since  it  is  the  consequence  of  the  law  which 
says: 

If  you  daily  remove  something  from  a  mass 
without  replacing  it,  the  mass  gradually  dimin- 
ishes until  it  completely  disappears. 

Is  this  law  applicable  to  the  human  ma- 
chine, and  is  the  wide-spread  conviction  true 
that  our  organs  wear  out  by  dint  of  func- 
tioning? To  these  questions  I  answer  without 
hesitation:  No!  And  here  are  my  reasons. 

That  which  is  logical  and  true  for  an  inert 
machine,  is  not  so  for  a  man  in  possession  of 
life. 

Man,  indeed,  is  made  up  not  of  dead  cells 
but  of  living  cells  which  are  bound  together 
and  move  in  an  unceasing  continuous  current. 

It  is  the  sum  of  these  living,  united  cells 
which  is,  in  reality,  the  living  human  body. 
In  order  that  life  may  maintain  itself  in  the 
organized  body  two  conditions  are  necessary, 

37 


Never  Grow  Old 

— the  uninterrupted  movement  of  the  cells, 
and  a  temperature  of  983/5°  Fahrenheit. 
Thanks  to  the  initial  movement  and  to  cer- 
tain special  chemical  reactions  on  the  living 
cells  by  the  liquids  and  gases  which  impreg- 
nate them,  these  two  indispensable  conditions 
are  realized. 

But  these  reactions  have  as  a  consequence 
the  destruction,  that  is  to  say  the  death  of  the 
cells.  Each  of  the  cells  as  soon  as  it  has  been 
destroyed,  or,  more  exactly,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment of  and  in  proportion  to  its  destruction, 
is  immediately  replaced  in  the  vital  current 
by  a  new  cell;  the  wastes  of  its  oxidation  are 
eliminated  by  the  action  of  the  excretory  or- 
gans and  thrown  out  of  the  system.  In  this 
way  there  can  be  neither  a  gap  in  the  adducent 
current,  nor  danger  of  obstruction  or  intoxi- 
cation by  the  poisonous  wastes. 

In  order  that  these  reactions  may  be  pro- 
duced, the  cells  must  have  arrived  at  the  ex- 
treme point  of  their  development,  and  be  ripe 
for  destruction. 

Since  the  destroyed  cells  are  instantane- 
38 


Why  We  Die— Is  Death  Inevitable  ? 

ously  replaced  by  new  cells  in  the  same  quan- 
tity, the  elements  which  form  the  human  body 
are  always  renewed  and  it  has  no  reason  to 
become  worn  out. 

Just  as  the  value  of  the  contents  of  our 
purse  will  not  change  if  we  replace  there  each 
coin  that  we  spend  by  a  similar  coin,  so  the 
intrinsic  value  of  the  living  molecules  which 
constitute  the  individual  will  not  diminish  if 
we  substitute  for  the  cell  which  has  just  been 
destroyed  an  equivalent  new  cell. 

Logically,  since  the  vital  adducent  current 
ceaselessly  brings  new  material  to  replace  the 
material  destroyed  for  the  needs  of  combus- 
tion, and  the  abducent  current  takes  care  of 
the  elimination  of  the  wastes  of  burned  matter, 
one  cannot  see  any  reason  for  the  death  of 
the  human  body  by  wear  and  tear.  For  the 
same  reason,  as  long  as  the  two  streams  of  life 
formed  by  the  double  current  bringing  the 
nutritive  molecule  and  taking  away  the  wastes, 
function  normally,  life  should  not  and  can- 
not stop.  That  is  to  say,  if  things  took  place 
strictly  in  the  practice  of  life  in  a  manner 

39 


Never  Grow  Old 

confirming  the  theory  which  I  have  just  ex- 
pounded, man  ought  not  to  die. 

But  such  is  not  the  destiny  of  the  individual. 
That  would  be  too  ideal. 

The  exigencies  of  human  life  expose  man  to 
meeting  on  his  road  so  many  dangers  of  a 
character  to  break  the  regularity  of  the  course 
of  the  two  streams  of  life  which  should  pro- 
vide for  his  incessant  renewal,  that  one  day 
or  another  the  fatal  accident  happens  and  life 
stops.  To  remain  then  in  the  realm  of  reality, 
we  must  conclude  that  death  is  the  destiny  of 
man  and  he  cannot  escape  it.  Besides,  the 
facts  are  there  to  prove  that  up  to  now  no 
one  has  been  able  to  escape  death.  Finally, 
nature,  having  provided  special  organs  for  the 
reproduction  of  beings  like  ourselves,  has 
shown  by  that  fact  that,  if  she  has  furnished 
us  with  the  means  to  create  substitutes,  it  is 
because  we  should,  at  a  given  moment,  cede 
the  place  to  them.  These  are  peremptory 
facts  before  which  we  must  bow.  Accord- 
ingly my  conclusions  are  summed  up  thus: 

It  is  by  the  double  vital  current  of  adduction 
40 


Why  We  Die— Is  Death  Inevitable  ? 

and  abduction  that  life  manifests  and  renews 
itself.  It  is  always  and  only  through  the  inter- 
ruption of  this  double  current,  whatever  the 
cause,  that  we  die.  Life,  by  the  very  fact  of  the 
exigencies  and  obligations  which  it  entails,  is 
constantly  at  the  mercy  of  an  accident  which  can 
cause  its  loss.  So  much  so  that  since  this  acci- 
dent has  always  taken  place  up  to  now,  we  can 
affirm  without  fear  of  deceiving  ourselves  that 
death  is  inevitable. 


CHAPTER  V 

CAN  LIFE  BE  PROLONGED? 

IF  we  start  from  the  truth  that  the  normal 
functioning  of  the  adducent  current  of  the 
nutritive  molecule  and  of  the  abducent  cur- 
rent of  the  wastes  of  combustion  makes  death 
impossible  as  long  as  this  functioning  exists, 
the  question  of  the  prolongation  of  life  is  re- 
duced to  the  solution  of  the  following  problem: 

To  find  the  way  to  protect  the  double  vital 
current  against  all  causes  liable  to  occasion  its 
interruption. 

Is  this  solution  possible? 

In  an  absolute  way,  no!  since  everything 
indicates  that  the  creative  power  which  gave 
us  life  wanted  to  limit  its  duration;  in  a  rela- 
tive way,  yes. 

My  personal  researches  and  their  resulting 
observations  allow  me  to  affirm  today  that  we 

42 


Can  Life  Be  Prolonged  ? 

can,  to  a  great  degree,  preserve  our  vital  cur- 
rent from  the  innumerable  dangers  which 
threaten  it;  and  that  from  this  effective  pro- 
tection there  must  naturally  proceed  an  ap- 
preciable extension  of  the  duration  of  our 
earthly  existence. 

Let  us  then  examine  the  causes  which  may 
disturb  or  break  the  course  of  our  two  streams 
of  life. 

These  causes  are  of  two  kinds  which  I  will 
qualify  in  the  following  way: 

The  unforeseen  or  accidental  causes  and  the 
foreseen  ones. 

Against  the  first  which  originate  in  inten- 
tional or  accidental  violence,  such  as  the  knife- 
thrust,  the  revolver  shot,  the  thunderbolt,  the 
trainwreck,  the  automobile  accident,  the  fall 
from  an  aeroplane,  war,  poison,  certain  sick- 
nesses, etc.,  in  a  word,  against  all  causes  that 
can  be  considered  as  accidents,  our  impo- 
tence is  absolute.  To  reduce  the  number  and 
gravity  of  these  accidents  our  very  limited 
r61e  consists  solely  in  the  counsels  of  prudence 
we  may  give. 

43 


Never  Grow  Old 

Against  the  foreseen  causes,  by  far  the  most 
numerous,  those  which  almost  always  origi- 
nate in  defective  postures,  compressions,  con- 
tusions, ruptures,  and  have  as  immediate  or 
secondary  results,  impediments,  deviations, 
partial  obstructions  of  the  double  vital  cur- 
rent; those  which  cause  deformities,  painful 
contractions,  congestions,  apoplexies,  degen- 
eration; those  which  disturb  the  functions  of 
the  essential  organs  and  break  the  vital  har- 
mony; all  those  in  a  word,  which  lead  griev- 
ously by  bodily  misery  to  impotent,  weak,  and 
ailing  old  age  to  end  in  pitiable  death ;  against 
these  causes  I  affirm  we  can  defend  ourselves 
victoriously. 

When  we  shall  have  eliminated  all  these 
causes  of  the  second  category  by  watchfulness 
and  by  the  means  I  will  indicate  farther  on; 
when  the  rupture  of  the  vital  current  will  have 
for  sole  cause  a  brutal,  unforeseen  and  rapid 
accident;  then,  we  shall  be  able  to  face,  with- 
out bitterness,  the  coming  of  the  years,  and 
to  foresee  a  less  sombre  and  more  distant 
end. 

44 


Can  Life  Be  Prolonged  ? 

What  must  we  do  to  attain  this  desirable 
goal? 

It  will  only  be  necessary  to  exercise  a  vigor- 
ous watch  over  the  current  which  carries  the 
nutritive  molecule  until  it  has  arrived  at  its 
last  destination. 

The  whole  success  depends  on  the  man- 
ner in  which  our  vigilance  is  exercised  to 
assure  to  the  nutritive  molecule  the  neces- 
sary direction  without  allowing  it  to  go 
astray  on  the  way  before  reaching  and  oc- 
cupying the  position  which  it  must  take  in 
the  vital  current  in  being  incorporated  into 
our  very  flesh  by  the  phenomenon  of  as- 
similation. 

This  function  of  watchfulness  is  not  be- 
yond human  strength.  Itvis  very  simple  if 
compared  with  the  great  benefits  which  it  can 
and  must  procure  for  humanity  as  a  conse- 
quence. But  to  exercise  it  usefully  it  is  indis- 
pensable to  have  first  been  initiated  into  the 
mystery  of  the  vital  movement  and  to  have 
been  steeped  in  it. 

It  is  to  this  initiation  that  I  invite  my 
45 


Never  Grow  Old 

readers  by  setting  forth  to  them  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters  the  bases  on  which  lies  my  method 
of  defence  against  the  multiple  foreseen  causes 
which  menace  human  existence. 


46 


CHAPTER  VI 

FORM  AND  DIRECTION  OF  THE  VITAL  CURRENT. 

THE  CIRCULATION  OF  THE  BLOOD  IS 

NOT  THE  VITAL  CURRENT 

REASONING  and  observation  are  the  two 
bases  on  which  rest  the  conception  of  the  idea 
which  has  given  birth  to  my  method  of  assur- 
ing the  defence  of  the  vital  current  against  all 
the  foreseen  causes  capable  of  interrupting  its 
course,  and  in  consequence,  of  provoking  death. 

Two  conditions  are  essential  to  the  effica- 
cious watchfulness  over  the  functioning  of  the 
vital  current,  and  to  a  profitable  intervention 
in  case  of  need.  These  necessary  conditions 
are  the  knowledge  of  the  form  and  of  the 
direction  of  the  said  vital  current. 

FORM  OF  THE  VITAL  CURRENT 

Since  each  of  the  cells  which  compose  the 
individual  are  living  and  all  the  cells  are  in- 

47 


Never  Grow  Old 

dissolubly  bound  together,  it  is  the  union  of 
all  these  cells  as  a  whole  which  forms  the  liv- 
ing individual  with  his  characteristic  form. 
Since  movement  is  an  inseparable  attribute  of 
life,  each  one  of  the  living  cells  must  partici- 
pate in  the  movement  of  the  individual  of 
which  it  is  an  integral  part.  And,  since  I  have 
taken  man  as  the  subject  of  my  demonstra- 
tion I  arrive  at  this  irrefutable  conclusion, 
that  the  vital  current  is  the  living  man  himself, 
animated  by  an  incessant  general  movement 
which  is  the  result  of  each  partial  movement 
of  the  cells.  Since  all  the  cells,  without  a  single 
exception,  are  involved  in  this  movement  the 
vital  current  can  have  no  other  form  except 
that  of  the  man  himself.  In  a  word  man  can 
be  defined: 

A  collection  of  living  cells  adhering  together 
in  an  unceasing  circular  movement  which  is  life. 

DIRECTION  OF  VITAL  CURRENT 

The  earth  is  a  part  of  the  planetary  system 
and  derives  from  it  the  movement  which  ani- 

48 


The  Vital  Current 

mates  it.  Man  lives  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth  to  which  he  is  bound  by  the  immutable 
laws  of  attraction  and  weight.  He  cannot  es- 
cape the  rotary  motion  of  the  earth  around 
the  sun,  and  unconsciously  he  is  drawn  by  it 
into  this  same  movement  with  the  same  rapid- 
ity, and  necessarily  in  the  same  direction, 
obeying,  as  does  the  planet  itself,  the  laws  of 
Keppler. 

The  cells  which  form  him  submit  to  the 
same  laws.  It  cannot  be  otherwise,  since  I 
demonstrated  above  that  the  vital  current 
meant  man  himself.  The  direction  of  the 
movement  of  the  vital  current  will  be  strictly 
the  same  as  the  direction  of  the  earth  in  its 
revolution  around  the  sun. 

The  earth  accomplishes  its  movement  of 
revolution  around  the  sun  in  the  direction  of 
west  to  east.  It  is  in  the  same  direction  that 
the  rotary  movement  of  the  vital  current  must 
be  accomplished.  If  it  were  otherwise,  the 
equilibrium  would  be  broken  and  the  final 
catastrophe  would  be  the  inevitable  and  im- 
mediate result. 

4  49 


Never  Grow  Old 

To  conclude,  I  say  that  the  demonstration 
by  reasoning  and  logic  seems  now  made — with- 
out the  least  doubt  left  in  the  minds  of  the 
readers  who  have  followed  me  in  this  out- 
line— that  the  human  vital  current  cannot 
have  any  other  form  except  that  of  man  him- 
self who  blends  with  it ;  and  that  his  movement 
will  have  the  same  direction  as  that  trans- 
mitted to  the  earth  by  the  planetary  system. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  REVEALING  ELM.      ORIGIN  OF  THE  METHOD 

SOME  years  ago  I  still  had  in  my  property, 
in  the  Gironde,  a  tree  rare  by  reason  of  its 
age  and  its  development. 

This  tree,  an  elm,  had  its  history.  It  had 
been  planted  in  1360,  during  the  Hundred 
Years'  War,  in  commemoration  of  a  victory 
by  the  French  over  the  English  troops  of  the 
Black  Prince.  The  battle  had  taken  place  on 
the  banks  of  the  Eau  Blanche,  a  little  winding 
river  which  crosses  the  property,  occupied 
there  by  a  community  of  Feuillants  monks. 
From  that  day  the  domain  of  the  Feuillants 
took  the  name  of  France  to  show  that  this 
ground  had  never  been  occupied  by  the 
English;  and  the  estate  has  kept  that  name 
ever  since. 

The  elm  had  prospered  to  such  an  extent 


Never  Grow  Old 

that  its  trunk  measured  more  than  six  metres 
in  circumference ;  its  branches  reached  a  height 
of  over  twenty  metres  and  covered  an  area  of 
one  thousand  metres;  its  roots  spread  several 
hundred  metres  in  all  directions. 

This  magnificent  specimen  of  vegetation, 
glory  of  the  estate  and  famous  for  a  great  dis- 
tance around,  which  had  seen  pass  not  only 
the  Feuillants,  who  had  planted  it,  but  all 
the  chain  of  owners  who  had  succeeded  one 
another  in  France  from  1360  to  1905,  this 
giant,  six  hundred  years  old,  could  not  with- 
stand an  autumnal  cyclone  which  decapitated 
it.  Its  powerful  head,  twisted  by  a  whirl- 
wind, fell  down  with  a  sinister  crash,  dragging 
and  breaking  all  its  neighbours  in  its  gigantic 
fall. 

This  was  a  disaster  and  a  great  grief  that 
thirteen  years  have  not  yet  obliterated. 

But  the  designs  of  Providence  are  unfathom- 
able. Perhaps  from  this  disaster  will  spring 
an  inexhaustible  source  of  blessings  for  the 
human  race. 

That  tragic  day  was,  in  fact,  the  point  of 
52 


The  Revealing  Elm 

departure  for  interesting  observations  and 
deep  meditations  which  led  me  from  deduction 
to  deduction,  to  the  discovery  of  the  system 
which  I  extol  for  the  care  and  defence  of  the 
vital  current. 

Since  the  tree  was  decapitated,  it  became 
necessary  to  remove  the  trunk.  The  lum- 
bermen of  the  country  were  summoned  and 
began  the  work.  But  the  very  next  day 
they  were  obliged  to  abandon  it;  the  teeth  of 
all  the  saws  had  been  broken  in  the  trunk  of 
the  monster  without  being  able  to  penetrate 
to  its  heart.  Only  dynamite  could  succeed  in 
making  the  giant  fly  into  bits.  The  operation 
lasted  a  week. 

Then  a  strange  spectacle  presented  itself  to 
our  eyes.  In  the  thickness  of  the  trunk,  at 
varying  depths  from  the  bark,  we  found  nails 
made  of  forged  iron,  perfectly  intact,  and  some 
of  them  with  rings  of  rope  around  their  heads. 
It  was  a  certain  indication  that  the  nails  had 
been  driven  into  the  trunk  at  very  different 
stages,  with  the  sole  purpose  of  tying  a  line  to 
them,  probably  to  dry  the  linen  of  the  dwellers 

53 


Never  Grow  Old 

on  the  estate.  We  also  verified  a  second  fact 
no  less  curious:  all  the  nails  thus  discovered 
were,  without  exception,  fixed  into  knots, 
kinds  of  tumors,  extremely  hard  and  of  vary- 
ing sizes.  Finally,  third  fact,  the  trunk  was 
hollow  in  all  its  length  on  a  circumference  of 
about  a  metre,  and  the  seven  main  branches 
which  spread  out  from  the  trunk  were  almost 
completely  hollow  for  a  distance  of  several 
metres.  This  explains  how  the  cyclone  could 
easily  decapitate  the  giant  whose  mighty  head 
crowned  with  foliage,  was  so  feebly  attached 
to  its  shoulders. 

Two  nails  almost  similar  to  those  which 
were  nearest  the  centre  of  the  trunk  were  found 
at  the  bottom  of  the  hollow  part. 

From  these  long  observed  and  deeply  con- 
sidered facts  an  attentive  spectator  ought, 
logically,  to  draw  deductions  of  a  nature  to 
enlighten  him  as  to  the  accomplishment  of 
certain  physiological  phenomena  in  the  life  of 
organized  beings: 

i.  If,  at  a  determined  date,  a  nail  driven 
horizontally  into  the  circumference  of  the 

54 


The  Revealing  Elm 

trunk  of  an  elm  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave 
exposed  part  of  its  length  and  its  head,  can, 
after  a  certain  number  of  years,  be  progressive- 
ly hidden  in  proportion  to  the  growth  of  this 
tree  by  the  deposit  and  assimilation  of  suc- 
cessive layers  of  living  vegetable  cells,  until  it 
is  definitely  enveloped  and  incorporated  into 
the  substance  of  the  tree  itself; 

If  this  fact  has  reproduced  itself  over  ten 
times  in  the  same  elm  under  identical  condi- 
tions in  the  space  of  five  hundred  years,  it  is 
permissible  to  deduce  from  it  that  it  has  always 
happened  in  the  past  and  will  always  happen 
in  the  future.  It  is  equally  permissible  to 
deduce  from  it  that  the  functions  of  nutrition 
and  assimilation  of  plants  takes  place  at  their 
subcortical  periphery.  These  successive  facts 
cannot  be  denied ;  the  nails  collected  from  the 
wood  at  different  depths  are  irrefutable  wit- 
nesses. If  need  be  the  concentric  layers 
marked  on  the  horizontal  cut  end  of  the  trunk 
could  show  the  exact  time  at  which  these  nails 
were  driven  in.  These  are  witnesses  that  can- 
not lie.  Consequently  it  is  proved  that  the 

55 


Never  Grow  Old 

growth  of  plants  takes  place  in  their  subcorti- 
cal  periphery. 

2.  If  all  the  nails,  without  exception,  have 
been  found  encysted  in  very  hard  knots  of 
wood,  it  is  not,  assuredly,  because  they  had 
been  driven  into  these  knots,  but  because 
their  presence  has  caused  these  deformations. 

Logically  this  is  how  the  phenomenon  oc- 
curred; the  driving  of  the  nail  into  the  body 
of  the  tree  through  the  bark  caused  a  wound 
which  consequently  disturbed  the  physiologi- 
cal course  of  the  nutritive  juices  whose  circu- 
lation was  interrupted  in  the  wounded  part. 
These  were  at  first  discharged  outside  by  open- 
ings; then  little  by  little  the  open  vessels 
healed  and  their  extremities,  henceforth  closed, 
formed  a  barrier  which  forced  the  sap  to  go 
back.  The  sap,  still  pushed  by  the  force  of 
the  movement  of  which  it  is  a  part  and  driven 
back  in  the  opposite  direction  by  the  obstacle 
encountered  at  the  end  of  the  vessels,  spread 
by  exosmosis  into  the  neighbouring  tissues,  over 
a  space  more  or  less  large  according  to  the 
importance  of  the  lesion  whose  centre  was  the 

56 


The  Revealing  Elm 

nail.  The  tissues  comprised  in  this  space,  on 
account  of  the  encroachment,  became  tume- 
fied, congested,  indurated,  and  a  tumour,  a 
knot,  or  a  wen  was  formed.  But  as  form  is  an 
attribute  characteristic  of  an  individual;  as 
it  is  the  result  of  the  functioning  of  an  immut- 
able law  which  presided  over  its  first  deter- 
mination and  watches  over  its  re-establishment 
when  it  has  undergone  some  accident  liable 
to  trouble  its  harmony;  soon  a  new  life  will 
organize  itself  in  the  knot.  A  network  of  new 
vessels  is  formed  and  binds  by  anastomosis 
the  two  vascular  stumps  separated  by  the 
wound.  Then  the  circulation  of  nutritive 
pieces  is  re-established  and  since  the  cause  of 
accumulation  around  the  wounded  part  does 
not  exist  any  more  the  wen  ceases  to  grow. 
The  tree  continues  to  grow  regularly  while 
keeping  the  acquired  deformation.  Progres- 
sively the  trunk  augmenting  in  volume  envel- 
ops in  the  same  proportions  the  part  of  the 
nail  exposed,  and  this  goes  on  diminishing  in 
length  until  the  nail,  definitely  covered,  dis- 
appears, completely  buried  under  the  layers 

57 


Never  Grow  Old 

of  new  formation.  The  nail  then  is  encysted 
in  a  cavity  of  umbilical  form  more  or  kss  deep. 
It  has  become  a  foreign  body,  inert  in  the 
bosom  of  a  living  organism,  as  a  bullet 
which  could  not  be  extracted  is  encysted 
in  a  human  body  without  preventing  it  from 
living  and  developing  if  it  has  survived  the 
wound. 

In  this  examination  of  the  knots  of  trees, 
their  always  rounded  form  strikes  the  atten- 
tion of  the  observer.  It  is  the  confirmation  of 
the  law  which  governs  the  vital  movement, 
since  even  in  this  period  of  the  driving  back  of 
the  nutritive  molecule  it  follows  the  circular 
current  which  carries  it  along.  It  corroborates 
proof  of  the  same  nature  furnished  by  the  ex- 
amination of  the  horizontal  cut  of  the  trunk 
where  the  concentric  circles,  going  from  the 
centre  to  the  circumference,  demonstrate,  not 
only  that  the  layers  annually  assimilated  have 
been  superimposed  one  on  the  other  proceed- 
ing from  the  centre  to  the  circumference,  but 
that  even  this  deposit  has  been  made  in  a 
circular  way,  that  is  to  say  in  the  direction  of 

58 


Origin  of  the  Method 

the  universal  movement  which  governs  the 
world.  Finally,  if  in  spite  of  its  hollow  trunk 
and  main  branches  the  elm  had  preserved  an 
incomparable  foliage  whose  verdure  shaded 
an  area  of  one  thousand  square  metres  it  is 
because  the  life  of  plants  occurs  principally  at 
their  periphery. 

Such  are  the  reflections  which  were  sug- 
gested to  me  by  the  examination  of  my  old 
elm,  and  the  discovery  of  the  nails  buried  in 
its  very  substance.  It  was  only  a  step  from 
here  to  the  thought  that  life  among  men  pro- 
ceeds in  the  same  way  and  is  governed  by  the 
same  immutable,  universal  laws.  This  step 
was  quickly  made. 

The  animated  being  differs  especially  from 
the  plant  in  this  respect.  The  latter  can  nour- 
ish itself  from  the  soil  by  contact  with  inor- 
ganic elements  while  the  moving  being  is 
obliged  to  search  for  nourishment  suitable  to 
his  nature;  from  which  it  follows  that  he  is 
provided  with  apparatus  suitable  for  their 
dynamization. 

The  animated  being  is  after  all  only  a  mov- 
59 


Never  Grow  Old 

ing  plant  fit  for  more  extended  and  more 
complete  functions. 

Everything  in  both  obeys  a  movement  of 
formation  unique  in  its  source,  multiple  and 
divergent  in  its  effects. 

Indeed  the  apparatus  grows  more  compli- 
cated in  proportion  to  the  elevation  of  the 
species  in  the  scale  of  being;  but  the  simplest 
movement,  as  it  manifests  itself  in  the  plant, 
remains  the  fundamental  basis  of  existence  for 
all  the  others.  It  is  always  the  organic  or 
atomic  elements  which  put  in  contact  with 
the  surrounding  fluids  are  dynamized  and  ren- 
dered suitable  to  penetrate  the  beings  in  all 
their  parts  and  tissues. 

The  permanent  and  regular  movement  of 
assimilation  and  disassimilation,  which  assures 
the  continuity  of  life,  is  closely  bound  to  the 
circulatory-molecular  movement.  This  is  the 
continuation  of  the  arterial  circulation  which 
is  itself  the  continuation  of  the  absorbent 
circulation. 

This  is  so  evident  that  there  never  exists 
any  trouble  in  one  of  these  circulatory  move- 

60 


Origin  of  the  Method 

ments  without  it  being  manifested  in  the  other 
two.  The  sum  of  these  three  currents  forms 
a  single  current  continuous  throughout  the 
entire  extent  of  the  three  divisions.  To  explain 
satisfactorily  the  evident  continuity  of  this 
triple  current,  we  must  go  farther  back  and 
take  into  consideration  that  this  circulation 
of  the  blood  and  of  the  living  cell  which  forms 
the  real  vital  current  is  only  the  rotary  move- 
ment which,  animating  the  whole  being,  de- 
termines and  governs  its  formation. 

This  movement  is  the  one  which  animates 
and  constitutes  all  organized  beings  according 
to  a  common  law,  since  the  molecular  circula- 
tion takes  place  in  everything  that  lives  ac- 
cording to  the  same  principles  and  in  the  same 
direction,  in  agreement  with  the  laws  of  gravi- 
tation which  control  the  planetary  system. 

Such  is  the  supreme  movement  of  which  one 
must  primarily  take  account,  if  one  is  anxious 
for  health  and  life  which  are  founded  on  it 
alone.  A  single  moment's  pause,  however 
slight,  would  be  the  immediate  cessation  of 
life. 

61 


Never  Grow  Old 

In  order  that  this  movement  may  take  place, 
the  cells  communicate  between  themselves  by 
regular  currents,  according  to  an  invariable 
and  certain  plan,  resulting  from  the  universal 
harmony  which  co-ordinates  all  beings. 

The  form  of  the  being  is  one  of  the  modes 
of  these  eternal  plans;  and  every  alteration  of 
the  form  has  as  necessary  consequence,  a  pro- 
portionate alteration,  destructive  of  the  vital 
currents.  The  supreme  condition  of  health 
and  even  of  existence  is  then  the  entire  purity 
of  the  texture  of  the  tissues  which  assures  the 
free  circulation  of  the  molecular  currents,  the 
normal  progression  of  the  nutritive  molecules 
through  all  the  organs,  and  the  expulsion  of 
those  that  have  lived  and  must  renew  them- 
selves by  getting  back  into  contact  with  the 
surrounding  mediums  from  which  they  draw 
a  new  life. 


62 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FORM 

IT  is  form  which  characterizes  the  individual, 
and  it  is  by  its  form  that  it  is  manifested  to 
our  eyes.  Chemistry  teaches  us  that  the  com- 
position of  the  organized  being  reduces  itself  to 
four  gases:  azote,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  car- 
bon, and  to  a  few  mineral  principles  of  earthly 
origin. 

Since  the  gases  are  elastic,  that  is  to  say 
able  to  be  compressed  or  dilated,  the  form 
must  be  likewise. 

From  another  side,  since  the  constitution 
of  the  surrounding  air,  in  which  all  the  forms 
which  pass  before  our  eyes  are  immersed  and 
move,  is  identical  with  that  of  organized 
beings,  one  may  conclude  that  the  atmosphere 
and  the  beings  which  move  in  it  have  a  com- 
mon base,  making  up  the  animated  forms 

63 


Never  Grow  Old 

which  people  our  planet  into  which  they 
blend. 

From  the  union  and  disunion  of  these  four 
gases  are  produced  the  most  diverse,  and  some- 
times the  most  opposed,  forms.  And  that  which 
differentiates  from  one  another  the  forms 
sprung  from  the  same  elements  is,  first  of  all, 
the  density  of  these  elements. 

Indeed,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the 
extreme  dilatation  to  which  the  gases  com- 
posing organized  bodies  are  susceptible,  we 
must  represent  them  to  ourselves  as  they  are 
at  the  extreme  limits  of  our  atmosphere,  that 
is  to  say  with  a  difference  of  pressure  equiva- 
lent at  least  to  a  layer  of  from  thirty-seven  to 
thirty-nine  miles  in  thickness.  We  would 
assuredly  find  them,  at  such  a  distance  from 
us,  in  a  very  different  state  from  that  under 
which  they  appear  to  us  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth.  So  loose,  so  subtle  at  their  point  of 
contact  with  the  ethereal  fluid  of  the  infinite, 
they  constantly  gain  in  density  in  proportion 
to  their  approaching  the  centre  of  our  planet. 
There,  they  take  the  molecular  form  and  re- 

64 


Form 

present  agglomerations  composed  of  subtle 
atoms,  animated  by  such  velocity  that  they 
must  be  considered  as  essential  principles  and 
full  of  life,  indestructible  base  of  all  that  exists 
in  the  universality  of  things. 

We  think  that  it  is  by  virtue  of  this  vital 
principle  animating  the  atoms  that  we  see 
them  collect  and  separate  continually  in  in- 
cessant transformations  without  ever  being 
altered  or  destroyed.  Through  their  collection 
we  get  cohesion,  density,  weight,  displacement: 
Form;  through  their  separation  we  get  dila- 
tation, the  return  to  the  absolute  equilibrium 
of  the  atom  in  the  infinite:  Dissolution  of  form. 

Such  would  be  the  mode  of  action  joining 
the  indivisible  atoms  of  the  infinite  to  those 
composing  organized  beings.  The  atoms  of 
the  infinite  are  themselves  the  elements  which 
constitute  the  condensed  substance  which  is 
met  again  at  the  base  of  all  the  animated  forms 
moving  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

But  in  order  that  the  atoms  may  free  the 
principle  of  life  which  is  in  them,  a  difference 
of  density  in  their  relations  is  necessary,  and 
5  65 


Never  Grow  Old 

it  is  that  difference  of  density  which  engenders 
movement.  Life  whose  form  is  animated  is, 
then,  the  result  of  the  increasing  movement 
which  takes  place  between  the  atoms  which 
make  up  this  form  and  the  atoms  of  the  sur- 
rounding air  in  which  they  bathe. 

It  is  only  by  compression  that  gases  reach 
the  degree  of  cohesion  which  brings  them 
nearer  the  solid  state,  gives  them  the  charac- 
teristics which  constitute  form,  and  allows 
them  to  be  differentiated  from  the  surround- 
ing mediums  of  the  same  composition,  but  less 
condensed,  in  which  it  moves,  which  animate 
and  vivify  it  in  going  through  it. 

Indeed  the  atmospheric  currents  traverse 
the  animated  forms  by  penetrating  them 
through  all  channels  and  through  all  pores; 
and  it  is  only  under  this  condition  that  they 
develop  in  themselves  that  marvel  which  we 
call  Life.  It  is  by  the  contact  of  these  currents 
of  surrounding  air  with  the  constituent  mate- 
rials of  the  nutritive  molecule  equally  in 
movement,  that  form  becomes  animated,  just 
as  it  dies  out  as  soon  as  these  currents  cease 

66 


Form 

to  traverse  it.  It  is  these  currents  which  are 
the  real  motor  of  all  the  internal  circulation 
of  the  living  being,  and  in  consequence  the 
essential  condition  of  the  regularity  of  the 
functions  which  take  place  in  him. 

Whether  one  considers  the  indivisible  atom 
in  the  ether  which  envelops  the  worlds,  or 
whether  one  observes  it  in  the  elements  which 
constitute  the  form  of  living  beings  one  must 
recognize  that  it  is  the  atom  which  is  the  real 
source  of  life. 

If  life  was  not  in  the  atom  how  could  it 
manifest  itself  in  the  form  which  is  made  up 
of  atoms.  As  life  is  everywhere,  as  it  reappears 
under  a  new  form  when  one  form  is  destroyed, 
the  atoms — always  the  same — which  are  inva- 
riably found  at  the  base  of  the  elements  of  all 
the  animated  forms,  cannot  be  otherwise  than 
living. 

The  living  being  is  then  the  consequence  of 
an  atomic  movement  starting  from  the  ether 
and  passing  from  condensation  to  condensa- 
tion, to  end  in  an  almost  solid  state  whose 
form  characterizes  man.  This  cohesion  of  liv- 

67 


Never  Grow  Old 

ing  atoms  around  a  centre  of  gravity  to  arrive 
at  the  formation  of  a  being  whose  form  is 
definite,  is  accomplished  by  means  of  an  im- 
mutable law,  the  law  of  movement,  which  is 
nothing  but  the  law  of  weight,  result  of  the 
difference  in  density  between  the  different 
atomic  layers  from  the  ether  down  to  the 
centre  of  the  planet  on  which  we  live. 

The  form  of  the  atomic  current  is,  like  form 
itself,  like  the  surrounding  air  and  like  the 
ether  of  the  infinite,  made  up  of  four  gases: 
azote,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  carbon.  It  is 
this  current  which,  after  having  given  life  to 
the  form,  preserves  it  there  in  an  incessant 
movement  which  penetrates  to  the  extreme 
limits  of  its  extent. 

This  is  a  truth  so  obvious  that  every  inter- 
ruption of  this  current,  for  whatever  cause, 
produces  a  corresponding  alteration  in  the 
form,  an  alteration  which  may  go  as  far  as 
complete  destruction,  involving  the  death  of 
the  individual. 

What  happens  then? 

The  gases,  no  longer  maintained  in  a  suf- 
68 


Form 

ficient  state  of  cohesion  and  compression  by 
the  universal  rotatory  movement,  obey  the 
peculiar  quality  inherent  in  their  state,  dilata- 
tion; and  the  separation  of  the  form  com- 
mences, to  be  continued  more  or  less  rapidly 
in  a  complete  way  to  total  vanishing.  The 
form  has  disappeared  and  with  it  the  individ- 
ual which  it  characterized. 

Still  none  of  the  elements  which  constituted 
it  have  been  destroyed.  The  four  gases  have 
gone  back  into  the  atmospheric  current  first, 
and  then  into  the  ether  where,  carried  from 
dilatation  to  dilatation  by  the  great  universal 
rotatory  current,  they  are  regenerated  and 
continue  to  make  up  new  forms,  always  driven 
by  the  great  immutable  law  of  weight. 

As  to  the  mineral  elements,  they  go  back 
into  the  earth  whence  they  came,  to  serve 
later  in  the  constitution  and  for  the  upkeep  of 
the  life  of  new  forms. 

HARMONY — PARITY 

Let  us  suppose  the  form  constituted:  in 
order  that  life  may  manifest  itself  in  it,  two 

69 


Never  Grow  Old 

conditions  are  necessary:  parity  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  two  halves  of  the  form,  and 
harmony  in  the  functions. 

Parity  establishes  a  sort  of  static  equilibri- 
um of  the  form;  but  equilibrium,  having  as  a 
consequence  immobility,  could  not  suffice 
alone  for  the  exigencies  of  the  vital  manifesta- 
tion which  is  the  essential  reason  of  the  ani- 
mated form.  Movement  is  indispensable ;  this 
is  equivalent  to  a  total  and  incessant  displace- 
ment. The  clock  whose  pendulum  has  stopped 
is  in  a  state  of  equilibrium,  but  the  impulsion 
given  to  the  pendulum  is  an  act  which  breaks 
the  equilibrium  and  determines  the  function- 
ing, that  is  to  say  the  harmony  of  the 
movement. 

An  organized  body  could  not  function  in  an 
absolute  equilibrium;  an  act  is  necessary 
which,  by  breaking  the  equilibrium,  deter- 
mines the  movement.  This  act  is  the  putting 
into  function  of  all  the  organs  by  the  regulator 
of  the  organized  being.  If  the  pendulum  is  the 
regulator  of  the  clock,  the  molecular  rotatory 
movement  is  the  regulator  of  all  living  beings. 

70 


Form 

But  if  one  considers  that  the  molecular 
rotatory  movement  was  the  starting  point  of 
the  first  evolution  which  constituted  the 
primitive  elements  of  form,  and  that  it  alone 
made  this  form  go  through  all  the  phases 
which  have  ripened  and  developed  it,  one  will 
be  certain  that  this  form  will  be  harmonized 
in  absolute  perfection,  because  it  has  been 
constituted  under  the  influence  of  a  law  which 
cannot  fail:  the  law  of  weight;  and  on  a  sym- 
metrical plan  which  establishes  the  parity. 

This  plan  consists  in  presenting  one  of  the 
lateral  parts  of  the  organism  to  the  other  part, 
exactly  applying  each  part  to  the  other:  eye 
to  eye,  ear  to  ear,  nose  to  nose,  tooth  to  tooth, 
arm  to  arm,  leg  to  leg,  muscle  to  muscle,  etc., 
etc.  What  one  finds  on  one  side  one  will  find 
on  the  other.  These  organs  represent  a  parity 
which  establishes  a  kind  of  equilibrium;  the 
direction  only  differs,  without,  however,  being 
contrary,  as  several  physiologists  have 
thought.  In  this  disposition  we  must  then 
see  a  concordance  and  not  an  antagonism 
between  the  organs. 

71 


Never  Grow  Old 

If  one  could  divide  a  regular  being,  and  not 
deviate  at  all  from  the  anterior  and  posterior 
median  lines,  one  would  have  two  parts  equal 
in  weight. 

From  a  static  point  of  view  the  animated 
being  would  then  be  in  a  state  of  equilibrium. 
But  there  is  something  beside  static  equilibri- 
um in  the  animated  being,  there  is  the  inces- 
sant organic  movement  which  is  the  harmonic 
movement.  Whatever  may  be  the  symmetri- 
cal dispositions  of  animated  forms,  this  move- 
ment is  unique;  it  is  as  point  of  departure  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  form. 

Such  is  the  harmony  in  the  functional  move- 
ment of  the  living  being  represented  by  its 
form. 

The  origin  and  end  of  all  the  forms  that  we 
see  goes  back  to  the  planetary  movements. 
These  movements  preserve  also  a  decisive  in- 
fluence on  the  forms.  And,  singularly  enough, 
one  every  instant  hears  people  praising  or 
blaming  the  climatic  influences.  Without 
really  being  aware  of  it  these  people  express 
an  actual  truth. 

72 


Form 

Every  organized  being  is  then  in  constant 
communication  with  the  surrounding  medium 
in  which  it  has  been  formed,  and  which 
animates  it. 

But  this  surrounding  medium  is  only  the 
air  representing  an  average  of  condensation 
between  the  more  solid  parts  of  the  globe  and 
the  atomo-cosmic  fluid  of  the  ether  in  which 
takes  place  the  evolution  of  all  the  worlds  and 
all  the  beings  towed  by  the  sun. 

In  this  movement,  every  planet  evidently 
makes  a  perpetual  molecular  exchange  through 
the  ethereal  fluid  in  which  it  bathes,  as  the 
organized  body  makes  a  constant  exchange 
with  the  elements  of  the  surrounding  fluid  in 
which  it  moves. 

Everything  is  animated  by  a  circulation 
which  seems  to  be  gaseous  because  our  organ- 
ism presents  more  density  than  the  fluids 
which  go  through  it;  but  this  circulation  is 
more  material  than  it  appears  to  us,  for  the 
elements  put  in  contact  are  always  either 
burning  or  combustible. 

The  great  harmony  which  embraces  all 
73 


Never  Grow  Old 

beings  in  all  their  evolutive  functions  is  present 
in  these  immense  movements.  Therefore  it  is 
from  this  higher  harmony  that  proceeds  what 
governs  all  organic  movements,  and  all  func- 
tions which  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  life  of  beings  whatever  they  may  be.  In 
order  that  things  may  take  place  with  the 
precision  and  perfection  that  we  have  just  in- 
dicated, in  a  word,  in  order  that  the  harmony 
should  remain  perfect  between  all  the  func- 
tions of  the  organized  being,  it  is  indispensable 
that  the  subject  should  have  an  absolute 
correctness  of  form. 

Where  would  the  symmetrical  arrangements 
and  harmony  be  when  the  form  had  ceased 
to  be  regular,  and  in  perfect  conformity  with 
the  plans  after  which  it  was  built? 

When  the  forms  are  altered,  the  median 
lines  present  an  indescribable  confusion. 

This  is  what  takes  place  in  all  subjects  sunk 
down  on  themselves,  as  the  obese  generally 
are,  whose  faulty  stooping  produces  contrac- 
tions, that  is  to  say,  more  or  less  apparent 
deviations.  The  muscular  medians  of  these 

74 


Form 

numerous  unfortunates  instead  of  representing 
a  straight  line,  resemble  ropes  trying  to  get 
their  ends  together,  and  twisting  to  right  and 
to  left  as  they  draw  nearer.  Development  is 
compromised,  and  harmony  destroyed.  The 
two  hemispheres  of  the  human  body,  like  the 
two  jointed  parts  of  the  pendulum  of  the  clock, 
oscillate  alternately,  going  back  from  one  side 
to  the  other,  and  still  determine  the  progress, 
but  the  unequal  division  of  the  elements  which 
compose  them  has  complicated  its  ways  and 
hindered  all  its  functions. 

These  altered  forms  more  or  less  quickly 
accumulate  all  the  physiological  and  patho- 
logical troubles  and  succumb  miserably  and 
prematurely. 

Then,  when  everything  is  stopped,  when 
the  vital  current  has  been  definitely  and  to- 
tally broken,  when  movement  has  given  place 
to  immobility,  in  a  word,  when  death  has  come, 
the  properties  of  the  four  gases  which  com- 
pose the  form  manifest  themselves  in  the  op- 
posite direction.  Dilatation  succeeds  cohesion, 
and,  from  dilatation  to  dilatation,  the  form 

75 


Never  Grow  Old 

disappears,  until  the  gases  have  returned  to 
the  infinite  where  they  acquire  renewed 
strength  in  a  new  life  whose  eternal  course 
accomplishes  itself  by  bringing  back  new  and 
pure  forms.  Inexhaustible  generations  are 
always  in  reserve  to  succeed  the  generations 
who  disappear. 

Form  is  fugitive,  and  its  duration  ephem- 
eral. We  must  die — this  is  the  inevitable  law. 

But  since  the  organized  being  dies  only  on 
account  of  the  interruption  of  the  vital  cur- 
rent, since  that  interruption  occurs,  in  the 
majority  of  cases,  only  slowly  and  progres- 
sively, since  it  manifests  itself  always  by  an  ap- 
parent deformation  which  warns  us  of  the  fall 
which  menaces  us,  is  it  not  possible  by  careful 
vigilance  over  our  form,  either  to  prevent  the 
deformation,  or  to  remedy  it  in  re-establish- 
ing, by  appropriate  exercises,  the  interrupted 
circulation  of  the  rotatory  vital  current,  and 
thus  retard  the  fatal  denouement? 

Thanks  to  the  knowledge  of  the  universal 
law,  of  which  I  have  just  stated  the  mechan- 
ism at  length,  the  sole  law  which  presides  over 

76 


Form 

the  formation  of  organized  beings,  over  their 
development,  and  over  the  continued  exercise 
of  life  in  them,  I  am  not  afraid  to  answer  this 
question  by  the  following  very  categorical 
affirmation : 

Yes,  it  is  possible,  by  strict  supervision  and 
rational  means  properly  applied,  to  prevent  the 
interruption  of  the  rotatory  vital  current,  and  to 
re-establish  the  circulation  of  these  currents  when 
this  has  been  interrupted,  if  not  in  all,  at  least  in 
most  cases. 

This  affirmation  does  not  rest  only  on  a 
theory  deducted  logically  from  the  law. 

For  thirteen  years  the  facts  which  have 
followed  each  other  in  great  number  and  have 
reproduced  themselves  incessantly  under  iden- 
tical conditions  of  intervention,  have  proved 
in  an  irrefutable  way  the  good  founded  on  this 
theory,  and  the  value  of  the  method  employed 
to  arrive  at  its  practical  realization. 

The  consequences  of  the  application  of  this 
system  of  intervention  have  an  importance 
which  will  escape  no  one.  Since,  thanks  to 
the  use  of  the  method  I  extol,  death  will  no 

77 


Never  Grow  Old 

longer  be  possible,  except  by  the  brutal  fact 
of  an  accident,  each  of  us  can  foresee  the 
possibility  of  arriving  at  the  end  of  his  life  at 
an  age  which  no  one  has  yet  attained,  without 
having  known  any  of  the  physiological  and 
pathological  troubles,  any  of  the  weaknesses, 
failings,  and  humiliations  of  senility. 


PART  II 


79 


PART  II 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  METHOD 

OBSERVATION  teaches  us: 

1.  That  the  living  being,  having  attained 
his  complete  development,  that  is  to  say,  when 
he  has  taken  the  definite  and  typical  form 
which  characterizes  him,  finds  himself  then 
made  up  of  two  halves  united  laterally  to 
each  other  and  of  such  parity  that  his  static 
equilibrium  and  his  functional  harmony  exist 
in  an  absolute  manner.    This  state  represents 
the  ideal  perfection  of  health  and  does  not 
admit  the  manifestation  of  any  pain.    It  will 
last  as  long  as  the  rectitude  of  the  form.    This 
applies  of  course  to  a  healthy  and  regular 
type. 

2.  But  let  the  least  alteration  of  form  take 
6  81 


Never  Grow  Old 

place,  the  static  equilibrium  and  functional 
harmony  are  broken  at  the  same  instant,  and 
deterioration  commences  to  manifest  itself  by 
the  symptom  of  suffering. 

Little  by  little,  but  fatally,  and  always  in 
proportion  to  the  degree  of  alteration  of  the 
form,  there  appear  progressively  the  physio- 
logical sufferings  and  the  failings  of  a  prema- 
ture senility  until  the  final  halt,  that  is  to  say, 
lamentable  death; 

3.  That,  if  a  check  is  effected  in  the  defor- 
mation, the  physical  deterioration,  the  march 
towards  death  undergoes  the  same  check; 

4.  That  if  by  any  cause  a  happy  return  is 
made  towards  rectitude  of  form,  immediately 
the  static  equilibrium  and  the  harmony  of  the 
functions  reappear,  and  health,  with  its  attri- 
butes, returns. 

It  is  then  apparent  that  a  relation  exists 
between  the  rectitude  of  the  form,  the  static 
equilibrium,  and  functional  harmony  of  which 
health  is  the  most  real  expression. 

In  truth  this  relation  not  only  exists  but  it 
is  inevitable  since  the  deformation,  the  de- 

82 


The  Method 

struction  of  the  static  equilibrium  and  of  the 
harmony  of  the  functions,  and  the  physical 
deterioration  have  one  sole  cause  which  is  an 
obstruction  produced  in  the  free  circulation  of 
the  rotatory  molecular  current. 

Likewise  the  perfection  of  form,  the  static 
equilibrium,  the  functional  harmony,  and 
health  are  the  consequence  of  the  free  circu- 
lation of  the  rotatory  molecular  current  and 
of  its  complete  penetration  throughout  the 
cells  of  the  organized  being. 

Are  not  these  facts,  which  invariably  occur, 
irrefutable  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  great 
rotatory  atomic  current  which  is  born  in  the 
ether  of  the  infinite  and  which,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  eternal  law  of  weight,  governs 
the  constitution  of  the  organized  being,  re- 
presented by  its  form,  and  continues  after  its 
formation  to  distribute  life  to  it  by  penetrat- 
ing all  its  pores  and  going  through  it  in  all 
directions? 

And  in  fact  as  long  as  the  rotatory  current, 
made  up  of  the  nutritive  molecule  in  motion 
and  the  surrounding  air  which  impregnates  it 

83 


Never  Grow  Old 

and  envelops  it  by  its  permanent  contact, 
circulates  freely,  the  organized  being  keeps  the 
perfect  rectitude  of  his  form  and  the  plentitude 
of  his  health,  represented  by  the  harmony  of 
all  his  functions.  But  let  any  obstruction 
whatever,  however  slight,  interfere  with  the 
circulation  of  the  vital  current,  immediately 
there  takes  place  an  ebbing  of  the  nutritive 
molecule,  and  this  determines  an  alteration 
of  form.  The  altered  form  destroys  the  parity 
of  weight  between  the  two  hemispheres,  and 
the  harmony  of  the  organic  functions.  With- 
out delay  deterioration  begins. 

To  sum  up,  in  order  that  an  organized  being 
may  preserve  his  static  equilibrium  and  the 
harmony  of  his  organic  functions,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  no  alteration  shall  take  place  in  the 
perfection  of  his  form;  and  in  order  that  the 
rectitude  of  his  form  may  exist,  it  is  indis- 
pensable that  the  circulation  of  the  nutritive 
molecule  through  the  living  cells  which  con- 
stitute it  should  be  absolutely  free.  Every 
obstruction  to  the  free  circulation  of  this 
incessant  rotatory  current  becomes  the  point 

84 


The  Method 

of  departure  for  the  deterioration  whose  first 
manifestation  is  the  alteration  of  form. 

Starting  from  this  fact,  which  is  the  exact 
expression  of  the  reality,  every  method,  having 
as  objective  the  sustaining  of  life  and  health 
in  the  organized  being  will  have  to  direct  all 
its  means  of  action  to  the  permanent  mainte- 
nance of  the  circulation  of  the  rotatory  molec- 
ular current  in  a  state  of  complete  liberty. 
And  for  the  assurance  that  the  current  is  free 
there  will  be  no  indication  more  precious  than 
the  rectitude  of  the  form,  nor  any  means  more 
efficacious  to  remove  the  obstruction  if  it 
exists  than  to  restore  to  the  form  its  typical 
perfection,  when  it  is  altered. 

The  rectitude  of  forms,  as  much  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  relations  which  exist 
between  the  bony,  muscular,  and  nervous  sys- 
tems as  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  circula- 
tory system  of  the  fluids  which  carry  life  into 
the  relatively  solid  parts,  is  the  essential  and 
stringent  condition  of  the  rectitude  of  all 
functions.  A  muscular  displacement  of  a 
millimetre  is  enough  to  prevent  the  complete 

85 


Never  Grow  Old 

extension  of  that  muscle,  to  provoke  the  pain- 
ful twitching  of  a  nerve,  and  to  interfere  with 
the  stretching  out  of  the  member  to  its  extreme 
limit.  Nothing  is  isolated  in  the  organized 
being:  bones,  muscles,  nerves  have  a  common 
origin  which  is  the  great  rotatory  movement, 
condenser  of  the  atomic  gases  around  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  form,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  law  of  weight.  They  are  bound  to 
each  other  by  the  community  of  their  origin, 
and  the  continuity  of  the  rotatory  current  of 
the  nutritive  molecule  which  penetrates  them 
from  cell  to  cell  through  millions  of  channels 
so  fine  that  they  become  imperceptible.  One 
will  easily  understand  that  the  least  displace- 
ment of  one  of  the  constituent  elements  of 
the  organized  being  will  cause  a  reverberation 
through  all  the  others,  and  that  obstruction 
in  the  circulatory  current  will  be  felt,  by  reflex 
action,  through  the  whole  organism  whose 
proper  functioning  it  will  disturb. 


86 


CHAPTER  II 

CAUSES  OF  ALTERATION  IN  FORM 

BEFORE  organizing  our  system  to  foresee  the 
alteration  of  the  form  or  to  remedy  it,  let  us 
examine  what  are  the  direct  causes  which 
produce  the  deformations.  These  causes,  as 
we  have  said  in  Chapter  V  of  the  first  part  of 
this  book,  are  of  two  orders: 

The  unforeseen  or  accidental  causes  and  the 
foreseen  ones. 

We  will  not  stop  over  the  causes  of  the  first 
order ;  these  are  of  such  a  violence  and  brutal- 
ity that  they  render  all  intervention  useless 
in  most  cases. 

It  is  towards  the  foreseen  causes  that  our 
attention  and  action  must  be  directed ;  and  it 
is  against  them  that  our  preventative  or  restor- 
ative methods  must  be  exercised. 

These  causes  are  reduced  almost  exclusively 
87 


Never  Grow  Old 

to  three;  compressions,  wounds,  and  contrac- 
tions. They  are  all  the  fatal  consequence  of 
the  multiple  exigencies  of  life. 

Compressions  are  caused  by  our  clothes  and 
our  defective  attitudes:  a  hat  too  small  com- 
presses the  head,  a  collar  too  tight  compresses 
the  neck.  It  is  the  same  for  shoes  for  the 
feet,  cuffs  and  gloves  for  the  hands,  etc. 
A  prolonged  sitting  posture  compresses  the 
gluteus  muscles;  the  neck,  pushed  forward, 
hinders  the  movements  of  the  lower  jaw,  and, 
in  consequence,  the  important  act  of  masti- 
cation, etc. 

We  have  seen  in  the  first  part  of  this  book 
that  the  vital  act  of  growth  in  the  individual, 
as  well  as  the  act  of  renovation  by  the  inces- 
sant bringing  of  the  nutritive  molecule  in 
the  rotatory  current,  takes  place  at  the  pe- 
riphery of  organs,  that  is  to  say,  immediately 
below  the  cutaneous  envelope.  It  is  there 
that  the  surrounding  air,  penetrating  through 
all  the  pores  of  the  skin,  takes  contact  with 
the  molecular  current  to  accompany  it,  in 
vivifying  it,  on  its  journey  through  the  cells. 

88 


Causes  of  Alteration  in  Form 

It  is  then  at  the  periphery  of  the  form  that 
all  the  essential  phenomena  of  life  occur.  It 
is  from  there  that  they  go  to  reveal  themselves 
later  in  the  centre  of  even  the  deeply  seated 
organs,  following  in  their  direction  the  law  of 
planetary  movement.  The  real,  vital,  molecu- 
lar current  has  its  maximum  intensity  at  the 
periphery  of  the  form  and  very  much  on  the 
surface. 

With  man,  the  acts  which  constitute  life 
take  place  just  as  we  observed  them  in  my  old 
elm  of  the  domain  of  France  at  Leognan. 
Man  is  formed,  lives,  and  is  renewed  at  his 
subcutaneous  surface,  as  is  the  tree  at  the 
bark. 

It  is  easy  to  understand,  in  these  conditions, 
that  even  a  superficial  compression  should  be 
of  a  nature  to  trouble  the  functioning  of  the 
law  of  life  by  the  obstruction  which  it  brings 
to  the  free  and  regular  march  of  the  current 
of  the  nutritive  molecule,  and  that  an  altera- 
tion of  the  form  would  be  the  consequence. 

Let  us  take  as  example  and  as  demonstra- 
tion of  the  fact,  the  case  of  the  persons  whose 

89 


Never  Grow  Old 

profession  obliges  them  to  maintain,  for  several 
consecutive  hours  of  the  day,  a  sitting  position. 
The  pressure  exerted  on  the  mass  of  gluteus 
muscles  by  the  weight  of  the  trunk  must  con- 
stitute an  obstacle  to  the  free  circulation  of 
the  nutritive  molecule,  and  must  consequent- 
ly cause  a  corresponding  alteration  of  the  form. 
This,  indeed,  is  what  we  see  almost  always 
taking  place  among  this  category  of  persons: 
the  molecular  fluids,  blocked,  flow  back  and 
accumulate  in  the  cellular  tissues  above  the 
hips  under  the  form  of  a  swelling  which  little 
by  little  progressively  involves  the  gluteus 
muscles  in  its  movement.  The  hips  grow  more 
and  more  large,  the  lumbar  region  thickens, 
and  obesity  arrives  in  great  strides  with  all 
its  train  of  physiological  miseries:  difficulties 
in  the  digestive  and  respiratory  functions, 
accidents  pertaining  to  the  liver,  the  kidneys, 
the  bladder,  difficulty  in  the  movements  of 
bending  and  extending  the  spine  on  the  pelvis. 
During  this  time  the  legs,  deprived  of  part  of 
their  share  of  the  nutritive  juices  necessary  to 
the  support  of  their  existence,  languish,  grow 

90 


Causes  of  Alteration  in  Form 

feeble  and  atrophy;  walking  becomes  labori- 
ous and  tiring.  Such  are  the  facts  of  physi- 
cal deterioration  that  any  one  may  observe  by 
the  hundred  among  the  people  of  the  category 
we  have  just  indicated.  Among  all  these 
people  the  obstruction  brought  to  the  circu- 
lation of  the  rotatory  molecular  current  has 
produced,  in  accordance  with  the  law  we  have 
laid  down,  the  alteration  of  the  form  first, 
then  the  rupture  of  the  static  equilibrium  and 
functional  harmony. 

In  the  following  chapters  we  will  bring  new 
confirmation  of  the  law  by  proving  that  the 
re-establishment  of  the  rectitude  of  the  form 
by  the  application  of  a  rational  system,  brings 
back  at  the  same  time  the  static  equilibrium 
and  the  harmony  of  the  functions — that  is 
to  say,  health. 

Wounds,  pricks,  and  bruises  have  as  a  con- 
stant result  an  obstruction  to  the  free  circula- 
tion of  the  vital  current,  and  in  consequence 
an  alteration  of  the  forms  and  a  disturbance 
of  the  static  equilibrium  and  of  the  harmony  of 
the  organic  functions. 


Never  Grow  Old 

We  will  then  consider  them  in  the  same 
order  as  the  compressions  which  produce 
analogous  effects  by  the  same  mechanism. 

Contractions  can  be  the  result  of  particular 
pathological  conditions  of  effort  and  fatigue; 
but  they  most  often  result  from  faulty  atti- 
tudes which  lead  to  the  disparity  of  the  two 
lateral  parts  of  the  organized  being  and  to  the 
rupture  of  his  static  equilibrium. 

To  get  a  full  realization  of  the  effect  that 
the  contraction  can  have  on  the  free  circula- 
tion of  the  nutritive  molecule  it  is  necessary 
fully  to  understand  the  functioning  of  the  law 
which  governs  the  formation,  growth,  and 
complete  development  of  the  human  being. 

Everything  holds  together,  everything  is 
united  and  tied  together  by  a  universal  soli- 
darity in  the  organized  being.  The  texture  of 
the  tissues  is  so  tenuous,  so  compressed,  that  it 
is  impossible  to  effect  the  displacement  of  one 
cell  without  having  as  a  result  either  a  lesion 
or  a  universal  displacement  in  the  whole  being. 

Each  individual  evolves  from  his  embryo. 
This  embryo  is  only  a  living  point,  but  it 

92 


Causes  of  Alteration  in  Form 

contains  the  germ  of  all  the  elements  of  con- 
stitution and  development  of  the  typical 
definitive  form  of  that  individual,  as  the  seed 
contains  the  element  of  the  plant,  as  the  egg 
contains  the  elements  of  the  bird. 

At  this  moment  of  the  embryonic  life  the 
tissues  are  still  in  a  confused  state  and  it  is 
under  the  influence  of  the  great  universal 
rotatory  molecular  current  that  these  tissues 
are  progressively  transformed  into  organs 
more  and  more  distinct,  without  the  whole 
ceasing  to  be  from  one  shoot. 

The  bony  tissue  is  formed  thus,  but  it  is 
not  isolated :  cartilaginous  at  first  in  the  midst 
of  the  muscles,  it  continues,  while  developing, 
its  circulatory  relations  with  them,  and  what 
are  called  the  insertions  of  muscles  are  only 
the  continuation  of  their  relations,  always 
intimate  and  complete. 

The  nervous  system,  whose  centres  occupy 
the  brain  and  the  spinal  cord,  ramifies  in  its 
turn  in  the  muscular  system,  in  which  it  is 
formed,  and  which  it  continues  to  penetrate, 
forming  one  substance  with  it. 

93 


Never  Grow  Old 

These  different  systems  acquire,  with  time, 
more  and  more  distinct  properties,  but  without 
ever  ceasing  to  be  blended  in  a  common 
activity  by  a  uniform  nutrition. 

With  such  intimate  and  close  relations  one 
easily  understands  a  thousandth  part  of  a 
millimetre's  deviation  must  suffice  to  cause  a 
break  or  a  lesion  and  produce  a  deformation. 

In  order  that  the  mass  of  fluids  forming  the 
rotatory  molecular  current,  which  penetrates 
all  the  systems  in  bringing  them  life,  may 
traverse  them  at  a  prodigious  speed  and  in  all 
directions,  it  is  necessary  that  the  capacity  of 
the  cells  through  which  it  passes  vary  from  a 
fifth  to  a  tenth  of  a  thousandth  part  of  a  milli- 
metre. There  is  the  proof  that  the  materials 
of  nutrition  must  have  a  degree  of  gaseous 
fluidity  at  least  equal  to  that  of  the  surround- 
ing air,  and  that  the  smallest  alteration  in 
the  texture  of  the  tissues  can  arrest  or  obstruct 
their  course,  and  cause  a  corresponding  altera- 
tion of  the  forms. 

This  digression  was  necessary  fully  to  ex- 
plain by  what  mechanism  a  simple  muscular 

94. 


Causes  of  Alteration  in  Form 

contraction,  originating  in  the  system  of  the 
superficial  peripheral  muscles,  is  able  to  pro- 
duce a  displacement  which  reverberates 
through  the  whole  organism. 


95 


CHAPTER  III 

COMBINATION  OF  THE  MEANS  OF  ACTION  OF  THE 
METHOD 

i .  IF  life  is  manifested  with  such  intensity 
in  the  superficial  layer  which  completely 
clothes  the  being  like  a  sheath ;  if,  on  account 
of  the  intimate  union  of  its  nervous,  bony,  and 
muscular  systems,  this  superficial  layer  is 
endowed  with  an  extreme  sensibility;  if  the 
seat  of  all  sensations,  all  impressions,  is  there ; 
if  everything  which  takes  place  at  this  pe- 
riphery reverberates  as  far  as  the  organs  which 
occupy  the  deeper  parts;  if  the  smallest  con- 
traction which  takes  place  in  the  superficial 
muscular  layer  is  transmitted  by  the  continu- 
ity of  tissues  to  the  deep-seated  muscles  and 
thence  to  the  bones  whose  movers  they  are; 
if  every  alteration  of  form  is  clearly  shown  at 
the  periphery  of  the  body  and  has  its  cause 

96 


Never  Grow  Old 

in  the  interruption  of  the  molecular  current 
whose  activity  has  its  maximum  of  intensity 
in  the  subcutaneous  cellular  layer,  there  is 
every  evidence  that  the  means  of  action, 
designed  to  prevent  the  deformation  by  main- 
taining the  molecular  current  in  a  state  of 
freedom  or  to  get  rid  of  these  deformations 
by  suppressing  the  obstacle  placed  in  its  path, 
will  have  to  focus  all  their  effort  on  this  same 
periphery  where  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
upkeep  and  renovation  of  life  take  place. 

2.  The  immutable,  eternal  law  which  pre- 
sides over  the  formation  of  beings,  is  the  same 
that  provides  for  the  upkeep  of  life  in  them. 
This  law,  on  account  of  its  emanation  and  the 
constant  goal  towards  which  it  must  lead,  is  a 
real  force,  a  considerable  power  whose  effects 
cannot  suddenly  and  totally  cease  by  the  sole 
fact  of  a  momentary  trouble  brought  to  its 
functioning.  Its  effort  will  continue  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  the  mission  of  which 
it  has  charge,  trying  to  re-establish  the  free 
circulation  of  the  molecular  current  which 

must  be  obedient  to  its  direction.     We  will 
r  97 


Means  of  Action 

see  accomplished  on  the  organized  being,  in 
case  of  obstruction,  a  phenomenon  identical 
to  the  one  that  we  saw  produced  on  the  elm 
of  the  estate  of  France.  Little  by  little,  under 
the  push  of  the  rotatory  current,  life,  inter- 
rupted by  the  wounds  caused  by  the  nails, 
again  showed  itself  around  the  wounded  part; 
cellular  layers  of  new  formation  successively 
superposed  and  organized  themselves  in  order 
to  cover  completely  the  nails  driven  into  the 
trunk  and  to  let  a  new  life  circulate  freely  on 
top  of  their  heads  henceforth  buried  at  various 
distances  in  the  body  of  the  tree.  The  powerful 
and  persistent  action  of  this  law  of  the  forma- 
tion of  beings  toward  the  accomplishment  of 
its  mission,  in  spite  of  and  against  the  obstacle 
which  hinders  its  functioning,  furnishes  us 
with  a  valuable  indication  and  a  sure  guide  as 
to  the  direction  to  give  our  efforts  to  re-estab- 
lish the  rectitude  of  the  altered  form,  or  to 
prevent  the  alteration.  All  our  means  of  ac- 
tion should  have  as  sole  objective  the  joining 
of  their  efforts  to  those  of  the  law  of  the  forma- 
tion of  organized  beings,  to  succeed,  by  this 

98 


Means  of  Action 

happy  combination  of  forces  in  re-establishing 
the  rectitude  of  forms  and  harmony  of  func- 
tions, that  is  to  say,  the  desired  end :  the  plen- 
itude of  life  and  health. 

CENTRE  OF  GRAVITY 

We  have  now  settled  upon  two  important 
points:  the  place  selected  for  our  action  and 
the  direction  to  give  it. 

We  know  that  it  is  at  the  periphery  of  the 
form  that  we  must  act,  and  that  our  action 
must  be  guided  by  the  law  of  the  formation 
of  beings  represented  by  the  movement  of  the 
rotatory  current  of  the  nutritive  molecule. 
But  we  would  not  be  much  further  along  if 
we  did  not  know  either  the  starting  point  of 
the  vital  current,  or  the  direction  of  the  in- 
cessant movement  which  it  executes  with  a 
dizzying  swiftness  traversing  the  form  and 
penetrating  it  in  all  its  parts. 

We  are  going  to  try  to  demonstrate  clearly 
this  important  point  in  the  life  of  organized 
beings. 

99 


Never  Grow  Old 

If  our  theory  astonishes  by  the  novelty  of 
its  conception  it  has  at  least  in  its  favour  that 
it  rests  on  sound  logic,  and  that  for  thirteen 
years  innumerable  facts  have  appeared  to 
confirm  its  correctness. 

From  the  very  moment  when  by  the  act  of 
generation,  the  spermatozoon  has  taken  con- 
tact with  the  ovule;  when  the  mystery  of 
fecundation  has  been  realized  and  when  the 
first  cell,  embryo  of  man,  has  been  created; 
then  the  vital  current  has  come  to  animate  the 
embryo,  to  penetrate  it  in  every  direction,  to 
preside  over  its  development  up  to  the  com- 
plete expansion  of  its  typical  form,  and  to 
pursue  there  its  mission  during  all  its  life 
until  the  destruction  of  this  form,  that  is  to 
say,  until  death. 

In  this  essence  of  man,  in  this  embryo  which 
is  the  concentration  of  him,  where  is  the  fixed 
point  which  is  always  the  point  of  departure 
of  the  vital  current  which  will  preside  over  the 
growth  of  the  form  almost  to  the  extreme 
limits  of  its  extension? 

This  initial  point  can  only  be  the  centre  of 
100 


Means  of  Action 

gravity  of  the  form.  Its  selected  place, 
necessarily  invariable,  is  determined,  a  priori, 
for  the  duration  of  the  individual  from  the 
first  second  when  life  penetrated  him  to  the 
last  when  life  is  stopped  in  him. 

The  static  equilibrium  and  the  functional 
harmony  being  the  indispensable  conditions 
for  the  regular  march  of  life,  the  centre  of 
gravity  must  logically  have  its  place  in  the 
brain,  the  organ  from  which  emanates  the 
directing  of  all  the  functions,  seat  of  the  Ego 
and  of  all  the  commandments,  starting  point 

of  all  orders. 

/ 

The  evident  proof  that  the  centre  of  gravity 
of  the  individual  lies  in  his  brain  is  that  the 
slightest  compression  made  on  that  organ 
immediately  breaks  the  harmony  of  the  func- 
tions and  likewise  the  static  equilibrium  to 
give  place  to  troubles  and  disorders  of  every 
nature  which  denote  the  absence  of  the  high 
command  indispensable  to  all  good  adminis- 
tration. The  machine  has  suddenly  gone 
crazy. 

Therefore,  provident  nature  has  given  to 
101 


Never  Grow  Old 

the  brain  its  powerful  cranial  envelope  in  order 
to  protect  it  against  all  external  attacks. 

Since  the  centre  of  gravity  is  situated  in  the 
brain  and  the  vital  molecular  current  starts 
from  the  centre  of  gravity,  this  will  form  the 
extreme  of  the  axis  around  which  the  evolution 
will  take  place. 

As  to  the  direction  of  the  current  it  cannot 
be  otherwise,  on  pain  of  an  immediate  cata- 
clysm, than  that  of  the  movement  of  rotations 
of  the  earth  around  the  sun. 

This  movement  of  the  molecular  current 
around  the  axis  formed  by  the  cranium  and 
the  spine  can  be  represented  rather  exactly 
as  a  thread  being  wound  around  a  spindle. 
And  the  legend  of  the  Fates  weaving  the 
thread  of  our  days  and  also  cutting  it,  repre- 
sents well  the  action  of  the  rotatory  molecular 
current  which  incessantly  deposits  in  us  the 
materials  which  keep  up  life,  and  whose  com- 
plete stop  causes  death. 

We  are  now  in  possession  of  the  principal 
elements  which  allow  us  to  lay  our  method  on 
solid  bases.  These  elements  are  as  follows: 

1 02 


Means  of  Action 

1.  The  action  must  take  place  at  the  pe- 
riphery of  the  body,  on  the  cutaneous  surface, 
because  all  the  vital  phenomena  of  growth, 
development,  and  renovation  of  man  are  ac- 
complished directly  under  the  skin;  and  be- 
cause it  is  there  also  that  always  occur  causes 
of  a  nature  to  hinder  the  freedom  of  the  molec- 
ular current  and  to  provoke  the  alteration  of 
the  form. 

2.  The  action  must  be  very  slight  and  very 
careful  on  account  of  the  extreme  sensibility 
and  the  extreme  impressionability  of  the  su- 
perficial muscular  layer  in  which  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  motor  and  sensory  nerves  expand 
infinitely. 

3.  As  all  the  systems  which  constitute  the 
human  body  are  intimately  united  and  bound 
together,  as  every  muscular  contraction  pro- 
voking  an   alteration    of   the   form   has   its 
influence  on  all  the  organs,  even  those  which 
are  the  most  distant  from  the  place  of  the 
deformation,  the  action  must  be  general  and 
produced  on  the  whole  surface  of  the  body. 

4.  This  action,  having  no  aim  except  to 

103 


Never  Grow  Old 

aid  and  make  active  the  movement  of  the 
rotatory  molecular  current  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  its  mission  of  distributing  life  to  all 
parts  of  the  body,  should  accompany  this 
movement  and  follow  the  same  direction  as  it. 

Since  the  rotatory  movement  of  the  nutri- 
tive molecule  takes  place  in  accordance  with 
the  law  which  governs  the  movement  of  the 
planetary  system  around  the  sun,  that  is  to 
say  in  the  direction  of  west  to  east,  the  action 
of  the  method  must  take  effect  in  the  same 
direction,  from  west  to  east. 

Likewise  since  the  molecular  movement  em- 
braces the  entire  periphery  of  the  body,  the 
action  must  be  felt  on  the  whole  cutaneous 
surface  without  omitting  any  part. 

To  fulfill  these  two  conditions  it  will  have 
to  start  from  the  crown  of  the  head  and  follow 
the  current  in  all  its  circuits  around  the  axis 
of  the  body,  formed  by  the  head  and  spinal 
column,  as  far  as  the  extremities  of  the 
fingers  and  toes. 

5.  It  seemed  that  to  exercise  an  action  so 
superficial  and  delicate,  no  apparatus  or  in- 

104 


Means  of  Action 

strument  could  replace  the  human  hand,  on 
account  of  the  special  sensibility  with  which 
it  is  endowed,  and  its  natural  and  constant 
warmth  always  in  harmony  with  that  of  the 
body  on  which  it  is  intended  to  operate. 

What  made  me  think  also  of  employing  the 
hand  for  acting  in  accord  with  the  rotatory 
molecular  current,  is  the  natural  instinct 
which,  to  relieve  the  pain  caused  by  a  wound, 
prick,  or  bruise,  makes  us  immediately  place 
the  hand  on  the  seat  of  the  pain,  and  be- 
gin then  to  rub  the  sore  place  to  seek  a 
relief  which,  I  must  say,  we  very  often 
obtain. 

I  have  noticed  that  the  application  of  the 
hand  on  a  part  of  the  body  affected  by 
rheumatic  pain  was  the  most  efficacious  local 
remedy,  especially  when  one  adds  a  light  and 
prolonged  circular  friction. 

To  sum  up,  the  system  I  recommend  to 
prevent  alterations  of  the  form  or  to  remedy 
the  inconveniences  which  result  from  them 
consists  solely  in  superficial  rubbings  prac- 
tised in  a  general  way  on  the  surface  of 

105 


Never  Grow  Old 

the  skin  with  the  hand  from  the  crown  of 
the  head  to  the  extremities  of  the  fingers  and 
toes. 

These  rubbings  must  follow  the  direction 
of  the  rotatory  molecular  current,  that  is  to 
say  from  west  to  east,  with  the  double  aim  of 
facilitating  its  march  and  of  assisting  at  the 
same  time  the  reactions  which  must  be  pro- 
duced under  the  influence  of  the  surrounding 
air  which  penetrates  it,  on  the  one  hand:  and 
on  the  other  hand  of  helping  the  said  molecu- 
lar current  in  the  efforts  it  makes,  obeying  the 
law  of  the  formation  of  organized  beings,  to 
re-establish  the  freedom  of  its  course  when 
hindered  by  any  obstacle. 

But  you  will  tell  me :  this  is  simply  massage 
that  you  do,  and  we  know,  alas,  how  uncertain 
are  the  results  obtained  by  the  various  pro- 
cesses of  massage  used  every  day  and  under 
all  forms. 

I  could  reply  to  this  question  that,  strictly 
speaking,  the  word  massage  serves  to  express 
an  act,  relatively  vigorous,  not  only  of  fric- 
tion, but  also  of  muscular  kneading,  entirely 

1 06 


Means  of  Action 

contrary  to  the  simple  and  very  superficial 
rubbings  I  recommend. 

But  the  word  does  not  frighten  me  and  I 
accept  it  willingly;  on  condition,  however,  that 
you  do  not  confound  my  system  of  action, 
made  up  of  gentleness  and  carefulness,  with 
the  barbarous,  brutal,  and  empirical  pro- 
ceedings practised  at  hazard  by  careless  hands 
directed  by  the  caprice  of  the  operator  and 
not  by  intangible  laws. 

My  system,  on  the  contrary,  is  represented 
by  a  practice  always  conscious,  based  on  the 
eternal  law  of  the  formation  of  the  organized 
being  as  I  have  defined  and  explained  it. 

If  the  theory  on  which  it  rests  is  false,  the 
results  of  its  practice  will  be  null;  if  the  con- 
ception of  this  theory  is  true,  the  beneficial 
effects  of  its  application  will  be  manifest.  In 
any  case  they  will  not  be  harmful. 

During  the  thirteen  years  that  I  have  ap- 
plied my  system,  the  results  have  always 
conformed  to  my  expectations. 

This  permits  me  to  affirm,  a  priori,  that  the 
application  of  the  method  will  have,  as  certain 

107 


Never  Grow  Old 

and  invariable  results,  the  rectification  of  this 
or  that  particular  defect,  this  or  that  shocking 
and  local  alteration  of  the  form. 

It  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  temerity 
in  qualifying  as  science  the  knowledge  of  a 
method  which,  by  a  conscious  and  certain 
action,  determined  in  advance,  succeeds  in 
unwinding  under  the  fingers  all  the  contracted 
threads  of  the  tissues,  submitting  to  an  inva- 
riable law,  by  virtue  of  which  the  form  is 
reconstituted  as  if  by  itself  and  reappears  in 
some  sort  new  and  pure ;  and  succeeds  also  in- 
fallibly in  giving  back  to  the  organs  their 
functional  harmony,  that  is  to  say,  the  fulness 
of  health. 

This  action  may  seem  new  and  strange:  it 
is,  none  the  less,  simple  and  real. 


1 08 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  RECTITUDE  OF  FORMS 

THE  perfect  harmony  of  the  vital  functions 
which  constitutes  the  fulness  of  health,  is  in 
exact  and  constant  touch  with  the  static 
equilibrium  and  the  rectitude  of  forms  which 
constitute  beauty. 

When  a  man  is  handsome  and  well  made, 
one  can  affirm  that  he  is  healthy.  With  altera- 
tion of  the  form  always  coincides  the  rupture 
of  the  harmony  of  the  vital  functions,  ugliness 
and  sickness. 

Since  the  rectitude  of  forms  has  such  great 
importance  for  the  happiness  of  humanity, 
and  since  it  is  so  valuable  to  be  able  to  pre- 
serve it  when  one  possesses  it,  and  to  find  and 
re-establish  it  when  it  is  altered,  let  us  try  to 
define  carefully  and  to  state  precisely  in  what 
it  consists. 

109 


Never  Grow  Old 

We  said  in  a  preceding  chapter  that  man 
was  entirely  contained  in  his  embryo  in  a  state 
of  concentration.  Under  the  influence  of  the 
immutable  and  general  law  of  the  formation 
of  beings  which  proceeds  always  by  extension, 
the  constituent  elements  of  the  embryo  de- 
velop progressively  and  in  a  circular  manner, 
carried  by  the  rotatory  molecular  current 
which  takes  its  point  of  initial  departure  at 
the  centre  of  gravity  itself,  that  is  to  say,  at 
the  seat  of  the  Ego.  Uniform  augmentation 
takes  place  in  all  the  parts  at  the  same  time. 
The  development  stops  only  when  the  succes- 
sion of  these  growths,  ceaselessly  renewed,  has 
attained  the  extreme  limit  of  the  extension 
fixed  by  the  law  of  formation. 

At  that  moment  the  form  is  definitive. 
And,  if  nothing  has  interfered  with  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  law  of  formation,  it  must 
be  perfect — that  is  to  say,  of  an  absolute 
rectitude. 

Man,  at  this  moment  of  his  evolution,  en- 
joys the  harmony  of  all  his  functions  and  the 
fulness  of  health  as  well  as  the  fulness  of 

no 


The  Rectitude  of  Forms 

beauty.  He  has  acquired  his  maximum  exten- 
sion corresponding  to  the  maximum  rectitude. 
This  absolute  rectitude  has  as  base  the  bony 
frame,  when  it  has  not  been  altered  during 
growth. 

The  253  bones  which  form  the  skeleton, 
arranged  with  infinite  intelligence,  give  a  cer- 
tain base  for  the  rectitude  of  forms.  We  have 
said  that  the  first  condition  of  all  rectitude 
was  extension  in  its  most  complete  form;  the 
bony  frame  furnishes  us  a  certain  base  to  fix 
the  limit  of  absolute  extension.  Indeed,  if  it 
is  not  hindered  in  its  liberty  of  extension,  the 
bony  system  invariably  arrives  at  the  definitive 
limits  common  to  all  its  parts  without  ever 
being  able  to  go  further. 

The  muscular  system  covers  entirely  the 
bony  system  from  the  vertex  to  the  extremi- 
ties of  the  toes  and  fingers.  In  order  that  the 
harmony  may  be  complete  it  is  necessary  that 
the  application  should  be  exact  and  parallel 
to  the  bony  structure,  entirely  and  normally 
distended  in  such  a  way  as  to  envelop  it 
without  ever  twisting  or  bending  it. 

in 


Never  Grow  Old 

As  long  as  the  muscular  development  can 
carry  the  bony  system  to  the  extreme  limits 
of  extension  the  rectitude  of  the  form  is 
perfect. 

This  being  well  established  we  will  seek  the 
principles  having  a  character  of  certitude 
sufficient  to  define  the  rectitude  of  human 
forms  and  to  state  the  invariable  rules  of  it. 

Inasmuch  as  one  may  determine  the  abso- 
lute extension  of  the  muscular  system  by  the 
extent  of  the  bony  system  regularly  developed 
likewise  one  may  determine  the  invariable 
position  that  the  shoulders  must  occupy  on 
the  thorax  by  the  limit  which  is  assigned  to 
it  by  the  extension. 

First  Rule. — The  shoulders  can  never  de- 
scend too  low. 

All  the  irregularities  in  the  position  occupied 
by  the  shoulders  on  the  thorax  and  in  their 
relations  result,  without  exception,  from  the 
fact  that  they  are  too  much  raised. 

This  first  rule  is  justified  by  the  elegance  of 
forms  of  the  people  whose  shoulders  fall  natu- 
rally and  also  by  the  anatomical  considera- 

112 


The  Rectitude  of  Forms 

tions  which  show  that  the  union  of  the  clavicle 
with  the  shoulder  blade  and  humerus  does  not 
allow  the  shoulders  to  go  below  the  second 
ribs. 

Here  is  then  laid  down  the  upper  limit. 

On  the  other  hand  the  shape  of  the  shoulder 
blade  itself  indicates  that  its  subscapular  sur- 
face is  meant  to  be  applied  to  the  conical  con- 
vexity of  the  thorax  represented  by  the  3d, 
4th,  5th,  6th,  7th,  and  8th  ribs.  This  position 
of  the  shoulder  blade  fixes  the  lower  limit  of 
the  shoulder. 

Finally  if  we  consider  that,  when  the  arms 
are  hanging,  the  base  of  the  shoulder  blade 
must  occupy  a  line  parallel  to  the  spiny 
processes  of  the  vertebra  at  an  equal  distance 
from  the  posterior  median  line,  the  rectitude 
of  the  shoulders  will  be  regulated  in  an  abso- 
lute fashion  in  their  relations  with  the  thorax. 

What  makes  it  necessary  for  the  position  of 
the  shoulders  to  be  determined  first  is  that 
this  position,  when  once  settled,  puts  a  light 
on  the  rectitude  of  the  neck. 

The  muscles  of  the  neck  are  always  of  a 
8  113 


Never  Grow  Old 

perfect  regularity  when  the  shoulder  blade  is 
in  the  position  we  have  just  indicated.  In 
these  conditions  the  form  of  the  neck  is  cylin- 
drical, and  its  length  is  exactly  represented 
by  the  seven  cervical  vertebrae  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  first  dorsal  vertebra. 

The  head,  placed  on  the  second  cervical 
vertebra,  which  is  in  reality  the  first  one  of 
the  spinal  column,  harmoniously  overhangs 
the  vertical  line  formed  by  the  spinal  processes 
at  least  one  third  of  its  antero-posterior 
diameter. 

This  rule  is  so  sure  and  so  decisive,  it  is  so 
well  founded  on  the  solidarity  of  the  muscles, 
that  we  can  affirm  that  when  these  conditions 
are  attained  the  rectitude  of  the  forms  is 
assured  in  all  the  other  parts  of  the  body. 

Second  Rule. — This  rule  applies  to  the  sacro- 
lumbar  and  ischio-coccygeal  regions. 

It  wishes  that  all  the  superficial  muscles, 
especially  the  large  gluteus  muscles,  should 
not  exceed  the  limits  of  their  upper  insertion 
at  the  iliac  ridges  more  than  the  thickness  of 
the  muscle  itself.  This  rule  is  that  of  the  per- 

114 


The  Rectitude  of  Forms 

fection  of  forms;  it  reduces  the  waist  to  the 
thickness  of  the  muscles  which  surround  the 
five  lumbar  vertebrae. 

By  it,  the  muscles  of  the  thighs  and  legs  are 
accentuated,  the  knee  cap,  very  near  the  ridge 
of  the  tibia,  regularly  covers  the  femorotibial 
joint,  and  then  the  tibiotarsal  joint  possesses 
all  its  flexibility ;  the  tarsus,  the  metatarsus, 
and  all  the  phalanges  of  the  toes  are  arranged 
in  a  regular  parallelism,  without  angles  or 
bendings,  and  endowed  with  a  liberty  of  move- 
ment equal  to  that  of  the  fingers  of  the  hand. 

The  dominant  point  of  these  marvellous  ar- 
rangements of  the  lower  members  is,  without 
doubt,  the  projection  formed  by  the  heel  bone 
which  sustains  so  solidly  the  sustentacular 
process,  sharply  outlining  the  tendon  of 
Achilles. 

These  arrangements,  which  are  the  evident 
demonstration  of  the  maximum  extension 
given  to  the  muscular  system  limited  only  by 
the  extent  of  the  bony  system,  represent  the 
static  equilibrium,  the  harmony  of  the  organic 
functions,  the  perfect  rectitude  of  form,  the 


Never  Grow  Old 

fulness  of  health  and  beauty.    In  such  a  con- 
dition no  pain,  no  discomfort  is  possible. 

Unhappily  the  exigencies  of  life,  ignorance 
and  negligence  make  this  delicious  state  too 
rare.  Deformations  are  produced  and  with 
them  the  equilibrium  is  broken,  functional 
harmony  destroyed  and  deterioration  arrives 
with  all  its  train  of  miseries. 


116 


CHAPTER  V 

ALTERATIONS  OF  THE  FORM 

THEIR  ORIGIN — THEIR  CONSEQUENCES 

HARMONY  is  the  only  certain  basis  of 
health.  When  a  person  has  deviated  and  is 
no  longer  normal  in  his  form,  deterioration  is 
inevitable. 

It  is  always  the  muscles  which  alter  first 
in  their  form,  their  placing,  and  their  relations 
with  the  bones. 

Each  bone  is  pervaded  by  a  muscular  sys- 
tem peculiar  to  it,  but  which  is  joined  to  the 
general  superficial  muscular  system;  and  it 
is  under  the  directing  action  of  the  brain  and 
by  the  medium  of  the  nerves  that  take  place 
either  the  isolated  or  the  joint  movements  of 
the  bones. 

The  brain  acts  according  to  circumstances 
117 


Never  Grow  Old 

as  every  superior  director  of  a  good  adminis- 
tration must  do. 

One  easily  understands  how  important  it 
is  for  the  muscular  system  peculiar  to  each 
bone  to  keep  its  independence  of  action  when 
it  is  necessary  to  execute  a  movement  ordered 
for  this  bone  only.  Such  independence  is  not 
possible  except  when  the  general  superficial 
muscular  system,  which  covers  all  the  particu- 
lar muscular  systems  and  binds  them  together, 
is  itself  free  from  all  contraction  and  from  all 
abnormal  retraction. 

Indeed,  every  contraction  or  retraction 
which  is  produced  in  the  general  superficial 
muscular  system  operates  by  this  fact  a  dis- 
placement of  the  design  which  deranges  the 
direction  of  the  nerves  and  provokes  a  disorder 
in  the  transmission  of  orders;  these,  badly 
received  by  the  special  muscles  of  the  bone, 
are  necessarily  badly  executed  by  them.  The 
result  is  that  the  movements  do  not  take  place 
conformably  with  the  design  traced  by  the 
law  of  the  formation  of  beings. 

There  is  more:  One  can  affirm  in  advance 
118 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

that,  by  virtue  of  the  solidarity  which  ex- 
ists between  all  the  tissues,  the  repercussion 
will  be  felt  in  all  the  integral  parts  of  the 
individual. 

It  is  always  the  lack  of  harmony  between 
the  muscular  system,  both  general  and  spe- 
cial to  each  bone,  and  the  nervous  system 
which  occasions  these  inconveniences;  and 
the  first  cause  has  its  origin  in  the  alteration 
of  the  designs  of  the  general  superficial  mus- 
cular system.  The  displacement  produced  in 
the  superficial  muscular  arrangements  involves, 
on  account  of  the  solidarity,  a  displacement  in 
the  point  of  arrival  of  the  transmission,  and 
an  impossibility  of  precision  in  the  execution 
of  the  movements  ordered. 

These  alterations  are  not  instantaneous, 
they  are  progressive.  It  is  little  by  little  that 
the  disorders  augment,  the  gait  is  implicated, 
the  movements  become  uncertain.  But  one 
will  always  find  in  the  conformation  of  per- 
sons affected,  very  apparent  alterations,  cor- 
responding to  the  nature  of  the  infirmities. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  hand,  instead  of 
119 


Never  Grow  Old 

being  narrow,  lengthened,  rounded,  will  be 
enlarged,  hollow,  without  tonic  quality, 
warped  in  its  tendonous  relations  with  the 
fingers;  the  whole  of  the  hand  and  fingers  is 
deprived  of  its  delicate  and  fine  touch;  the 
wrist  is  large  and  stiff;  the  fingers,  instead  of 
being  round,  slim,  and  perfectly  parallel,  are 
knotty,  twisted,  enlarged  even  with  the  joints, 
and  perceptibly  shorter.  Everything,  even 
the  nails  which,  badjy  nourished,  become 
deformed,  spreads  out,  becomes  brittle,  and 
is  affected  by  the  first  alteration. 

When  the  hands  have  arrived  at  this  point 
of  degradation  of  form,  the  feet  are  in  an  even 
more  lamentable  condition.  Well,  these  dis- 
orders of  the  hands  as  well  as  those  of  the  feet, 
these  troubles  of  the  upper  and  lower  extrem- 
ities, go  back  invariably  to  the  contractions 
of  the  superficial  muscles  of  the  neck  and 
head. 

There  is  one  thing  worthy  of  note:  that  is 
the  correlation  which  exists  between  the 
deviations  of  the  muscles  which  are  all 
interconnected. 

120 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

All  muscular  deviation  is  universal  in  the 
being.  The  deformities  of  the  head,  of 
the  face,  the  neck,  and  shoulders  suffice 
to  indicate  the  alterations  of  the  rest  of  the 
body. 

Thus,  the  mouth  is  one  of  the  organs  on 
which  the  deformations  show  themselves  most 
quickly,  and  which  permits  one  to  estimate 
them  at  first  sight. 

An  enlarged  mouth,  too  much  split,  or 
strongly  bowed,  with  slackness  of  the  nerves 
and  commissures,  will  always  find  as  first 
equivalent,  an  irregular  thickening  of  the  neck 
closely  connected  with  the  alterations  of  the 
form  of  the  mouth. 

The  shoulders  follow  this  movement,  and 
are  made  higher  in  a  constant  relation;  the 
hips  execute  the  same  rising  movement,  and 
the  muscles  of  the  upper  and  lower  members, 
even  to  the  extremities  of  the  fingers  and  toes, 
will  offer  us  the  demonstration  of  the  solidari- 
ty, as  well  for  the  deep-seated  and  superficial 
muscles  as  for  all  the  muscles  between 
themselves. 

121 


Never  Grow  Old 

MECHANISM  OF  THE  ALTERATIONS  OF  FORM 

The  head  and  the  spinal  column  protect 
the  brain  and  its  nervous  extensions  which 
are  the  seat  of  individual  government,  dispos- 
ing of  all  the  other  organs  as  instruments  for 
its  use.  It  is  in  the  brain  that  the  Ego  resides, 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  being,  around  which 
the  entire  organic  movement  takes  place. 

Thirty-seven  pairs  of  nerves  emanating  from 
the  brain  and  spinal  cord  come  out  of  the  cra- 
nium and  the  spinal  column,  and  are  the 
agents  of  this  supreme  power,  to  carry  orders 
to  all  the  muscular  parts  prepared  to  obey 
them. 

From  these  arrangements  one  will  under- 
stand that  the  muscular  mass  cannot  find 
itself  placed  in  any  of  its  parts,  outside  of  the 
normal  conditions  foreseen  for  the  exercise  of 
the  nervous  action,  without  this  mass  feeling 
proportionate  injuries. 

When  a  deviation  is  manifest,  like  that  of 
the  shoulders  or  hips  when  one  is  higher  than 
the  other,  the  side  pulled  in  a  faulty  direction 

122 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

exerts  a  more  or  less  violent  pull  on  the  nerv- 
ous fibres  which,  coming  out  of  the  holes  of 
conjugation  of  the  vertebrae,  occupy  a  fixed 
position,  determined  a  priori  for  the  regular 
functions. 

This  pulling  caused  by  the  deviation  will 
have  as  consequence  a  considerable  tension 
on  one  side  and  an  equivalent  loosening  on 
the  other,  according  as  the  muscular  bending 
which  removes  the  parts  from  or  brings  them 
nearer  the  vertebral  axis,  weighs  on  them 
without  raising  them. 

And,  when  a  violent  abnormal  muscular 
contraction  displaces  the  parts  from  top  to 
bottom  in  an  uneven  way,  there  is  necessarily 
a  pulling  in  the  opposite  direction  on  the 
spinal  cord  itself,  since  the  nervous  fibres 
remain  always  fixed  at  their  points  of  emer- 
gence from  the  vertebrae. 

Such  is  the  mechanism  of  these  alterations 
of  form  which  can  have  no  other  result  than 
that  of  creating  a  pathological  state  against 
nature. 

These  abnormal  contractions  may  arrive  at 
123 


Never  Grow  Old 

any  age;  even  infancy  is  not  exempt.  But  the 
alterations  they  produce  are  progressive. 
There  is  always  an  organ  which  succumbs 
first.  It  is  the  commencement  of  ruin. 

Generally  at  about  the  age  of  fifty  the  al- 
terations are  aggravated  and  concentrate 
themselves  on  the  joints  where  they  either 
diminish  or  suppress  the  bending,  wholly  or 
in  part,  or  keep  them  definitely  more  or  less 
bent. 

After  the  inevitable  troubles  resulting  from 
the  muscular  disorders  and  from  the  disparity 
that  accompanies  them,  on  account  of  the 
disagreement  in  relation  between  the  displaced 
muscles  and  the  nervous  fibres  at  their  exit 
from  the  spinal  column,  it  remains  for  us  to 
examine  the  connections  which  exist  between 
the  bones,  the  muscles,  and  the  nerves  from 
the  point  of  view  of  their  respective  functions 
in  the  apparatus  of  prehension  and  locomotion. 

As  for  the  apparatus  of  prehension  it  is 
evident  that,  if  the  muscles  of  the  neck  are 
contracted  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  to  the 
point  of  interfering  with  the  course  of  the 

124 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

seven  cervical  vertebrae,  there  is  a  manifest 
deviation. 

The  basilar  bone,  by  its  posterior  part,  and 
the  occipital  bone  seem  to  touch  the  shoulders. 

The  result  of  this  contraction  will  be  to 
hinder  the  action  of  the  nerves  of  the  brachial 
plexus  which  ramify  through  all  the  apparatus 
of  prehension,  from  the  humerus  to  the  digi- 
tal extremities. 

And  the  trouble  will  always  be  proportion- 
ate to  the  degree  of  deviation  of  the  scapulo- 
humeral  joint. 

The  more  considerable  the  deviation  the 
more  the  lack  of  harmony  is  accentuated  be- 
tween the  deep-seated  muscles  which  should 
execute  the  movements  of  the  bones,  and  the 
nerves  which  command  them,  and  the  more 
the  general  deformation  of  the  being  is  aggra- 
vated from  day  to  day. 

These  gradations  go  back  thus  to  the  move- 
ment which  alters  the  general  state  of  the 
being,  and,  on  looking  at  it  closely,  we  verify 
always  that  the  alteration  of  forms  grows  on 
all  parts  of  the  body  in  proportions  equal  to 

125 


Never  Grow  Old 

those  of  the  arm,  which,  in  this  case,  is  that 
which  succumbs  first. 

As  for  the  apparatus  of  locomotion  it  is 
placed  directly  under  the  command  of  the 
sacral  plexus. 

The  muscular  masses  are  very  voluminous 
in  this  apparatus  and  in  proportion  to  the 
bulk  of  bone  they  have  to  move. 

As  in  the  shoulder  the  deviations  have  as  a 
consequence,  a  lack  of  harmony  between  the 
muscles,  the  bones,  and  the  nerves. 

The  nerves  lack  precision  in  the  transmis- 
sion of  orders,  the  muscles  no  longer  obey,  and 
the  movements  of  the  bones  are  affected. 

Everything  in  the  apparatus  of  locomo- 
tion is  concentrated  around  the  coxofemoral 
joint. 

As  soon  as  a  deviation  reaches  this  joint, 
disagreement  is  produced,  little  by  little,  pro- 
gressively, between  the  large,  medium,  and 
small  gluteus  muscles  and  the  nerves  which 
penetrate  them;  finally  the  disorder  becomes 
decisive  and  painful,  the  play  of  the  joint  is 
really  affected  when  the  harmony  is  broken 

126 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

between  the  muscles  of  the  thigh  and  the 
crural  nerve. 

Here  is  the  secondary  seat  of  the  retractions, 
for  the  primary  seat  is  always  in  the  general 
muscular  system.  The  suffering  is  only  the 
consequence  of  the  pulling  exerted  by  the 
deviated  muscles  on  the  nerves,  which  by 
reason  of  the  fixity  of  their  points  of  emergence 
cannot  follow  the  muscular  displacement. 

The  proof  of  this  is  that  the  pains  always 
cease  progressively  in  the  degree  that  the  rec- 
tification of  the  form  is  accomplished. 

In  what  concerns  the  apparatus  of  locomo- 
tion, I  insist  on  the  fact  that  the  muscular 
mass  follows  the  direction  of  the  deviation, 
while  the  nervous  fibres,  fixed  in  the  crural 
canal,  cannot  get  away  from  this  determined 
point  and  resist  the  faulty  pulling  which  in- 
evitably occasions  very  painful  twinges. 

This  is  an  example  which  indicates  how  a 
deviation,  having  its  point  of  departure  in  the 
general  muscular  system,  may  entail  compli- 
cations in  the  joints,  which  are  like  condensa- 
tions of  muscles,  complications  aggravated 

127 


Never  Grow  Old 

more  by  the  importance  of  the  muscular 
masses  which  surround  and  protect  the  coxo- 
femoral  joint,  whose  dimensions  exceed  all  the 
others,  and  which  is  charged  with  the  most 
laborious  active  functions. 

The  entire  system,  starting  from  the  last 
lumbar  vertebra,  is  constituted  outwardly 
exclusively  for  locomotion. 

The  two  bones  of  the  pelvis  present  large 
lateral  surfaces  in  which  are  prepared  the  two 
cotyloid  cavities  enclosing  the  heads  of  the 
femurs  which  are  covered  with  the  largest 
muscle  of  the  organism. 

In  spite  of  the  power  of  its  bony  structure 
and  of  the  muscles  that  cover  it,  it  is  this 
joint  which  most  often  fails  in  its  mission. 
The  cause  of  this  weakness  evidently  lies  in 
the  pulling  away  which  these  large  muscles 
undergo,  pullings  away  which  determine  the 
lack  of  harmony  between  the  surfaces  of  the 
muscles  and  their  points  of  insertion  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  the  nervous  fibres 
fixed  by  the  crural  canal. 

Two  alterations,  characteristic  of  all  the 
128 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

difficulties  which  group  themselves  around  the 
coxofemoral  joint  and  which  impede  so  cruelly 
the  apparatus  of  locomotion  are: 

1.  That  all  the  gluteus  muscles,  crowded 
back  on  the  great  dorsal  muscles  above  the 
sacrum  and  the  bones  of  the  hips,  fill  up  the 
waist,  as  the  muscles  of  the  shoulders  fill  up 
the  course  of  the  neck. 

2.  That  the  femur  forms,  with  a  vertical 
passing  through  the  middle  of  the  coxal  bone, 
an  angle  representing  the  state  of  normal 
flexion  in  which  the  muscles  hold  the  joint. 

This  angle  varies  following  the  inclination 
of  the  head  backward  and  forward,  because  it 
is  the  head  which,  carrying  the  top  of  the  body 
forward,  determines  the  contraction  of  this 
angle  and  not  the  spinal  column  whose  flexi- 
bility is  scarcely  perceptible.  It  is  always  in 
the  coxofemoral  joint  that  takes  place  this 
bending  which,  once  rooted,  becomes  so  fertile 
in  disastrous  consequences. 

The  muscles  of  the  legs  follow  this  pushing 
back  from  the  bottom  to  the  top,  the  knee-cap 
leaves  the  femorotibial  joint  to  occupy  the 
9  129 


Never  Grow  Old 

lower  part  of  the  femur,  and  thus  involves 
the  liberty  of  action  of  this  joint. 

Every  member  finds  itself  thus  retracted  in 
the  same  proportion.  The  tibiotarsal  joint 
thickened  and  often  swollen,  loses  the  possi- 
bility of  bending.  Likewise  all  the  phalanges 
of  the  toes  are  pushed  back  towards  the  meta- 
tarsus in  such  a  way  as  to  present  short  and 
broad  feet  with  the  toes  all  disfigured 

This  situation,  which  is  visible  while  devel- 
oping, awaits  only  a  slackening  in  the  circu- 
lation of  fluids  to  become  the  seat  of  an  infinity 
of  painful  infirmities. 

It  is  then  that  the  reverberation  makes  itself 
felt  nearer  and  nearer,  and,  through  the  soli- 
darity in  all  the  organisms,  the  respiratory, 
digestive,  urinary,  reproductive,  etc.,  appa- 
ratus, follow  the  law  common  to  the  apparatus 
of  prehension  and  locomotion. 

The  alterations  of  form  involve  all  the  or- 
gans, all  the  functions,  but  every  thing  is 
not  affected  at  once,  some  succumb  while 
others  still  resist,  which  depends,  no  doubt, 
on  the  ordeals  they  have  had  to  go  through 

130 


Alterations  of  the  Form 

and  the  efforts  which  have  been  exacted  from 
them. 

To  sum  up,  the  alterations  of  the  form 
always  have  birth  in  the  general  superficial 
muscular  system,  whence  they  are  reflected  in 
the  deep-seated  muscles,  peculiar  to  the  par- 
ticular or  concerted  movements  of  the  bones, 
by  the  intermediation  of  the  nervous  system. 

They  have,  as  causes,  faulty  attitudes  and 
muscular  contractions,  and  as  effects,  the  de- 
struction of  the  perfect  parity  between  the  two 
lateral  sides  of  the  body,  the  destruction  of 
the  static  equilibrium,  and  of  the  cellular 
parallelism.  By  the  impediment  they  cause 
to  the  continuity  of  the  rotatory  molecular 
current,  they  destroy  the  harmony  of  the 
functions,  suppress,  alter,  or  diminish  the  nu- 
trition of  the  tissues,  and  end  progressively 
in  the  premature  decay  of  the  subject  and  in 
the  apparition  of  all  the  infirmities,  all  the 
weaknesses,  and  all  the  pains  of  old  age.  They 
are  the  source  of  degeneration  and  of  the 
chronic  maladies  of  the  organs  of  respiration, 
digestion,  circulation,  generation,  etc.  They 


Never  Grow  Old 

proceed  always  by  retractions  and  abnormal 
flexions,  that  is  to  say,  by  direct  opposition  to 
the  great  eternal  law  of  the  formation  of 
beings  whose  action  tends  always  towards  ex- 
tension, inseparable  from  the  perfection  of 
form. 


132 


CHAPTER  VI 
RECTIFICATION  OF  THE  FORM 

INTERVENTION  OF  THE  METHOD — ITS  MODE 
OF  ACTION — ITS  TECHNIQUE 

WE  have  just  demonstrated: 

1 .  That  there  is  no  health,  in  the  absolute 
sense  of  the  word,   possible  without  static 
equilibrium    and    harmony    of    the    organic 
functions. 

2.  That    these    two    essential    conditions 
could  not  exist  without  absolute  rectitude  of 
forms. 

Our  first  care,  if  we  want  to  live  in  a  state 
of  perfect  health  and  live  long,  will  then  be 
constantly  to  watch  to  avoid  the  causes  of 
alteration  of  our  form  and  to  re-establish  its 
rectitude  as  promptly  as  possible  in  case  of 
deformation. 

133 


Never  Grow  Old 

This  task  is  arduous  and  delicate,  but  it  is 
not  above  our  strength,  if  we  have  grasped 
well  the  power  of  the  universal  law  of  move- 
ment and  the  mechanism  of  its  execution.  In 
this  order  of  ideas  it  will  only  be  necessary  to 
take  advantage  of  the  incomparable  ally  which 
we  will  always  find  in  the  agent  of  the  law, 
which  is  no  other  than  the  rotatory  molecular 
current.  This  has,  in  fact,  the  mission  of  dis- 
tributing to  all  the  parts  of  our  being  the  liv- 
ing materials  of  nutrition  and  of  unceasing 
renovation  which  are  indispensable  to  it.  We 
have  only  to  be  guided  by  it. 

If  the  obstacle  placed  in  the  path  of  this 
agent  of  life  is  the  real  cause  of  the  lack  of 
harmony  in  our  organic  functions,  the  great 
law  of  the  formation  of  beings  to  which  it  is 
subject  and  which  it  must  obey,  which  does 
not  cease  to  direct  it  towards  the  goal  that 
it  must  attain,  represents  such  an  intan- 
gible force  that  its  action  will  continue  to  be 
exerted  on  it,  in  spite  of  the  obstacle  which  it 
has  met  on  its  path.  If,  at  the  moment  of 
its  encounter  with  the  obstacle,  the  molecular 

134 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

current,  finding  the  way  closed,  is  obliged  to 
go  back,  the  pressure  of  the  mass  of  molecules 
following  does  not  stop  on  that  account. 
Taken  between  the  obstacle  and  the  pressure 
the  current  deviates  and  divides  itself;  but 
the  great  law  of  universal  movement  sustains 
it  with  all  its  force  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  mission  of  which  it  has  charge.  This 
mission  consists  in  distributing  on  its  course 
and  to  the  extreme  limits  of  the  extension  of 
the  form  in  order  to  preserve  this  in  all  its 
perfection  the  materials  of  nutrition  and  of 
renovation  of  which  it  has  need. 

Thanks  to  this  powerful  aid  the  molecular 
current  succeeds  sometimes  by  these  sole 
means  in  turning  around  or  surmounting  the 
obstacle,  and  in  re-establishing  its  course  until 
it  has  attained  the  goal  for  which  it  was 
destined. 

It  is  this  phenomenon  that  we  have  seen 
reproduced  more  than  twenty  times,  at  long 
intervals,  on  my  old  elm. 

If,  by  these  forces  only,  guided  only  by  the 
laws  of  formation  and  of  nutrition  of  beings 


Never  Grow  Old 

the  molecular  current  succeeds  quite  often  in 
re-establishing  its  course  and,  in  consequence, 
the  harmony  of  the  organic  functions  and  the 
rectitude  of  forms;  how  much  the  more  will 
it  succeed  if  it  is  seconded  in  its  efforts  and 
on  the  entire  extent  of  its  course,  by  reasoned 
manipulations  whose  action  is  added  to  its 
own  to  aid  in  the  re-establishment  of  the  com- 
munication momentarily  interrupted. 

It  is  to  my  method  of  reasoned  tractile 
rubbings,  acting  always  in  accord  with  the 
rotatory  molecular  current  in  the  immutable 
direction  determined  by  the  law  of  universal 
movement,  that  falls  this  auxiliary  r61e  so 
precious  and  so  fruitful  of  results. 

Thanks  to  its  intervention,  success  is  assured 
in  all  cases  where  the  harm  does  not  go  too  far 
back  or  where  the  subject  has  not  declined 
too  much  through  age  or  through  disorders  of 
very  long  standing. 

We  have  said  and  demonstrated  that  the 
molecular  current  under  the  law  of  the  forma- 
tion of  beings  acted  always  in  the  direction  of 
extension;  and  that  the  typical  form  of  the 

136 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

individual  attained  its  perfection  only  on  con- 
dition that  the  extreme  limits  of  extension 
were  reached  by  the  development  of  the 
current. 

An  example  will  easily  demonstrate  the  ne- 
cessity of  this  process. 

Suppose  a  plant  having  attained  the  limits 
of  its  development,  that  is  to  say,  in  all  the 
perfection  of  its  form;  expose  it  to  the  heat  of 
the  sun  without  having  taken  the  precaution 
to  water  sufficiently  the  earth  into  which  its 
roots  plunge,  there  to  draw  the  nourishing 
juices  destined  to  support  life  in  it;  what  will 
happen?  Soon  we  see  the  leaves  wither  on 
their  extreme  edges,  wrinkle,  dry  up,  and  lose 
their  beautiful  living  form;  the  branches 
droop,  the  plant  bows  its  head;  it  is  going  to 
dry  up  and  die  for  lack  of  solid  and  liquid 
nourishment. 

If  at  this  painful  moment  of  vital  deteriora- 
tion we  intervene  by  furnishing  to  the  earth 
the  water  necessary  for  the  production  and  ab- 
sorption of  the  nourishing  juices  by  the  roots, 
we  see  very  quickly,  but  progressively,  the 


Never  Grow  Old 

renovation  of  the  plant.  In  proportion  as 
the  nourishing  juices  rise,  penetrating  the 
cells,  we  see  these  swell  and  distend  again 
until,  the  molecular  current  having  reached 
the  extreme  peripheries  of  the  leaves,  the 
plant,  with  its  beautiful  head  straight  and 
erect  under  the  pressure  of  the  vital  current, 
shows  us  again  its  form  in  all  the  expansion  of 
its  splendour. 

This  is  a  phenomenon  identical  with  that 
produced  in  man  when  the  muscular  contrac- 
tions have  determined  an  alteration  of  the  form 
and  interrupted  the  march  of  the  molecular 
current  in  destroying  the  cellular  parallelism. 
The  nourishing  fluids,  stopped  in  their  course, 
no  longer  carry  life  to  the  extreme  limits  of 
the  periphery  of  the  form.  This,  no  longer 
able  to  sustain  its  complete  development, 
alters  progressively;  the  skin  wrinkles  and 
dries  up,  the  commissures  sink,  the  mouth 
enlarges,  the  eyes  are  dry,  the  jaws  are  tight, 
the  head  falls  forward,  the  limbs  give  way,  the 
muscles  contracting  gather  together  the  or- 
gans which  crowd  one  another,  pain  arrives, 

138 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

and  life  languishes.  In  a  word  the  static 
equilibrium  is  broken,  the  harmony  of  the 
functions  is  troubled. 

With  the  alteration  of  form,  decay  and 
physiological  misery  have  made  their  appear- 
ance. The  march  towards  development  and 
extension  has  been  halted ;  the  law  of  the  for- 
mation of  beings  is  hindered  in  its  functioning. 
Let  the  method  intervene  at  this  sad  moment 
of  human  existence:  As  the  course  of  the 
nutritive  molecule,  momentarily  suspended, 
re-establishes  itself  by  this  intervention  one 
sees  the  muscles  relax  gently  and  progressively, 
the  joints  stretch  out,  the  cellular  tissues  fill 
out,  the  commissures  contract,  the  integu- 
ments expand,  the  form  recovers  the  purity  of 
its  lines  at  the  same  time  as  the  extension 
reaches  the  extreme  limit  of  its  development 
by  the  penetration  of  the  vital  fluids. 

Health  has  come  back  with  perfection  of 
form  and  beauty. 

Well,  then,  since  invariably  this  interven- 
tion of  the  method  of  tractile  rubbings,  em- 
ployed with  knowledge  in  the  direction  of  the 


Never  Grow  Old 

rotatory  molecular  current,  produces  identical 
effects  of  rectification  of  the  form  and  return 
to  health,  is  it  not  permitted  to  deduce  from 
this  that  the  method  acts  in  perfect  conformity 
with  the  immutable  law  of  the  movement  of 
formation  of  beings? 

It  is  then  invariably  in  the  direction  of 
extension  that  the  method  must  act  in  order 
to  remain  in  accord  with  the  law  of  universal 
movement. 

At  all  times  the  need  of  extension  has  been 
understood  as  a  necessity  by  all  the  men  who 
have  been  occupied  with  the  rectification  of 
the  form  of  the  human  body  and  with  the 
growth  of  its  forces.  This  has  been  the  con- 
stant objective  of  bonesetters  of  all  kinds,  of 
masseurs,  orthopedists,  and  surgeons. 

Today  physical  culture  has  taken  a  more 
important  place  than  ever  in  our  habits. 
Sport  in  general  and  gymnastics  in  particular 
are  wholly  in  favour. 

All  methods,  however  varied  or  opposed 
they  may  be,  have  one  common  principle: 
Extension. 

140 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

It  is  an  intuition,  an  instinct  of  nature  which 
inspires  in  man  this  means  of  developing  his 
strength  and  preserving  his  health. 

The  idea  is  correct,  but  the  proceedings 
employed  to  realize  it  do  not  rest  on  any 
principle.  Each  master  has  his  method,  most 
often  directly  opposed  to  that  of  his  competi- 
tor. The  only  point  on  which  they  meet, 
without  exception,  is  violence. 

To  stretch  out  a  bent  member  they  go  as 
far  as  to  employ  veritable  instruments  of 
torture,  which  succeed,  besides,  only  in  pro- 
voking cruel  pains  and  sometimes  irreparable 
ruptures,  without  lasting  compensation  in  the 
regularity  of  the  movements. 

Entirely  ignorant  of  the  law  of  the  formation 
of  beings,  those  who  employ  such  methods 
always  encounter  this  immutable  law  which 
is  made  up  of  gentleness. 

They  act  in  a  haphazard  way.  Imbued,  al- 
most always,  with  a  false  theory,  they  can  only 
attain  negative  or  imperfect  results.  Some- 
times, instead  of  rectifying  or  of  developing 
along  the  typical  lines  of  the  individual,  they 

141 


Never  Grow  Old 

alter  the  form ;  and,  not  content  to  maintain  it 
at  its  maximum  of  extension,  they  dislocate  it. 

The  return  to  complete  extension  and  recti- 
tude of  form  can  be  obtained  only  by  the 
return  of  the  rotatory  molecular  current  to 
all  the  parts  of  the  being,  parts  which  it  could 
not  penetrate  any  more  on  account  of  the 
obstacle  brought  to  its  circulation  by  the  mus- 
cular contractions. 

To  act  otherwise  is  foolishness;  it  is  like 
pulling  on  a  rod  to  lengthen  it;  one  succeeds 
only  in  breaking  it. 

When  the  extension  is  faulty  it  is  necessary, 
first  of  all,  to  seek  for  the  cause  of  it  in  the 
general  state  and  not  in  the  part  affected.  It 
is  necessary  to  call  on  the  living  forces  of  the 
entire  being  acting  on  the  periphery  of  the 
organs  in  such  a  way  as  to  hasten  the  mole- 
cules going  towards  the  centres  to  return  to 
the  peripheries  which  assist  in  their  exhalation. 

All  other  action  is  illusory,  dangerous,  de- 
testable, or  useless. 

The  development  of  the  being,  which  takes 
place  only  by  the  molecular  movement,  is  the 

142 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

only  rule,  the  only  guide,  the  only  force  capa- 
ble of  producing  the  extension.  Accordingly 
what  the  method  proposes  is  extension;  then, 
everywhere  and  always,  it  is  this  which  is 
at  fault  as  soon  as  there  exists  a  muscular 
disorder  anywhere.  But  although  it  can  be 
needed  more  particularly  in  one  organ  than 
another,  the  method  will  always  proceed  in 
the  same  general  way.  It  is  extension,  com- 
plete, unconscious,  restorative,  proceeding  to 
the  retracted  part  into  which  it  penetrates  at 
the  same  time  as  the  molecular  current  of 
force  and  of  life  from  which  it  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated; it  is  extension  working  through  the 
whole  of  the  being  by  the  path  of  development 
that  the  method  realizes,  which  alone  will  be 
the  real  element  of  rectification. 

These  are  the  expansive  forces  of  the  being, 
which,  put  into  play  by  the  method,  effect 
this  extension  naturally  and  spontaneously 
without  effort,  because  they  attack  all  the 
contractions  and  retractions  and  give  to  the 
molecules  the  free  circulation  through  all 
the  tissues  which  is  characteristic  of  them. 

143 


Never  Grow  Old 

Calm  appears  again,  equilibrium  returns 
everywhere.  Man  continues  his  progression; 
health  is  re-established. 

The  entire  skill  consists,  then,  in  directing 
the  action  of  the  method  in  the  direction  of 
development  and  extension. 

What  proves  the  strict  exactitude  of  what 
I  have  just  said  is  that  the  more  superficial  and 
delicate  the  tractile  rubbings  are,  the  more 
virtue  and  efficacy  they  have,  because  if  the 
elasticity  of  the  tissues  renders  these  more 
easily  accessible  to  the  alterations  of  form,  this 
same  elasticity  favours  the  transmission  of  rub- 
bings exercised  at  the  surface  of  the  said  tissues 
to  the  most  profound  centres  of  the  organs. 

A  too  strong  pressure  can  hinder  or  acceler- 
ate the  movement  of  the  rotatory  molecular 
current,  a  rubbing  deviating  the  paths  of  nu- 
trition thwarts  it  instead  of  aiding  it. 

It  is  this  which  causes  so  much  disillusion- 
ment in  the  practice  of  massage,  and  ordinary 
gymnastics  which  do  not  rest  on  any  vital  law. 
The  man  who  dares  to  touch  the  works  of 
nature  must  at  least  know  the  laws. 

144 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

MUSCULAR  IMPULSE' 

Since  the  action  of  the  method  always  pro- 
duces identical  results  with  such  precision 
that  one  can,  in  all  cases,  announce  in  advance 
the  realization  of  it  in  a  foreseen  and  certain 
order,  according  to  the  age  of  the  subject  and 
the  importance  or  long  standing  of  the  altera- 
tion, is  it  not  demonstrated  by  fact — that  is  to 
say,  the  most  evident  demonstration — that 
this  method  of  superficial  rubbings  rests  on  an 
immutable  law ;  and  that  these  efforts  to  re-es- 
tablish the  course  of  the  molecular  movement 
unite  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  efforts  of 
the  current  itself? 

It  seems  extraordinary,  at  first,  that  rub- 
bings so  light  could  produce  effects  of  impor- 
tance such  that  under  their  conscious  and 
reasoned  action  one  sees  the  enlarged  mouth 
shrink,  the  commissures  contract,  the  nostrils 

lEntrainement  musculaire  seems  to  have  no  adequate  trans- 
lation which  expresses  the  meaning  given  to  it  by  the  author. 
We  have  used  the  term  muscular  impulse.  The  word  entraine- 
ment  as  used  by  Dr.  Goizet  signifies  a  molecular  movement  which 
once  started  is  carried  progressively  from  muscle  to  muscle 
throughout  the  body. 

145 


Never  Grow  Old 

appear,  the  jaw  relax,  the  teeth  loosen,  the 
wrinkles  disappear,  the  contracted  and  ele- 
vated shoulders  descend  to  their  normal  place, 
the  neck  get  clear,  the  head,  stooping  forward, 
become  erect,  the  wrists  become  refined,  the 
fingers  taper  and  stretch  out,  the  gluteus 
muscles  retake  their  position  at  the  level  of 
the  iliac  ridges  and  free  the  lumbar  region, 
the  coxofemoral  joint  recover  the  suppleness 
and  extent  of  its  movements,  the  bust  hold 
itself  freely  erect,  the  knee  cap,  the  muscles 
of  the  thigh,  and  the  calves  occupy  their  re- 
spective places,  the  ankle  bones  reduce,  the 
toes  recover  their  mobility  and  their  parallel- 
ism; in  a  word  the  static  equilibrium  re-estab- 
lishes itself  together  with  the  harmony  of 
functions,  the  rectitude  of  forms,  health,  and 
beauty. 

It  is  now  established  that  these  facts  are 
produced  and  reproduced  every  day  with 
mathematical  precision;  no  one,  except  by 
closing  his  eyes  so  as  not  to  see,  could  deny  it. 

How  can  rubbings  so  delicate  displace 
muscles  so  considerable,  real  histological  com- 

146 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

plications,  and,  still  more,  contractions  which 
substitute  for  the  typical  forms  faulty  forms 
contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  formation  of 
beings? 

Well,  it  is  only  by  the  impulse  of  surfaces 
and  with  these  by  the  impulse  of  the  deep 
seated  systems  that  this  power  of  rectification 
can  be  logically  explained. 

Chance  could  not  produce  and  renew  in- 
definitely an  impulse  of  the  surfaces  which  it  is 
possible  to  determine  a  priori.  There  is  the 
proof  that  the  impulse  cannot  take  place  ex- 
cept when  the  method  of  tractile  rubbings 
conforms  to  the  law  of  the  movement  of  for- 
mation of  beings  indicated  by  the  current  of 
the  nutritive  molecule. 

You  will  allow  me,  in  the  interest  of  truth, 
to  designate  the  power  of  rectifying  the  form 
in  conformity  to  a  natural  law  as  a  new  fact 
of  utmost  importance  in  its  consequences. 

When  one  can  state  that  by  an  impulse  in- 
offensive in  all  respects  it  is  possible  to  re-es- 
tablish all  at  once  the  perfection  of  forms  and 
harmony  in  all  the  functions,  that  is  to  say 

147 


Never  Grow  Old 

beauty  and  health,  can  one  not  rightly  hope 
for  a  benefit  hitherto  unknown  to  mankind? 

It  is  by  muscular  impulse  that  in  the  first 
place  the  position  of  the  head  is  rectified  which 
exerts  such  a  decisive  influence  on  the  whole 
organism. 

This  action  is  so  slow,  so  unconscious,  that 
the  subject  who  submits  to  it  feels  nothing 
except  the  very  delicate  and  superficial  rub- 
bings. 

It  is  only  when  the  traits  of  the  physiog- 
nomy have  recovered  their  regularity,  when 
all  the  alterations,  including  wrinkles,  have 
disappeared,  when  freshness  has  recurned  with 
the  tonic  force  of  the  body  that  one  perceives 
the  results  realized;  and  that  one  recognizes 
that  the  rubbings  have  produced  the  happiest 
modifications  in  the  general  state.  As  long 
as  the  modifications  are  not  ostensible,  one 
would  not  even  suspect  that  the  rubbings 
could  have  had  any  significance  whatever. 

This  is  because  the  rubbings  have  no  other 
aim  than  to  assist  the  great  movement  which 
gives  life;  and  because  the  results  obtained 

148 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

are  only  appreciable  by  the  well  being  they 
procure  for  him  who  benefits  from  them. 

It  is  these  movements  which  in  assisting 
the  development  and  extension  restore  the 
exact  proportions  of  the  body  determined  by 
the  plan  of  the  being.  Their  first  result  is  to 
free  the  shoulders  from  the  muscular  cervical 
complications  which  enlarge  and  shorten  the 
neck ;  and  then  to  rid  the  hips  of  the  contrac- 
tions heaped  upon  the  lumbar  region  which 
gives  back  to  the  waist  its  suppleness  and 
elegance. 

It  is  only  when  these  proportions  are  given 
back  to  subjects  who  could  not  even  stoop 
over  to  pick  up  an  object  on  the  ground,  that 
they  appreciate  how  closely  health  is  related 
to  rectitude  of  forms. 

The  impulse  takes  place  successively  and 
slowly  after  the  rubbings  have  produced  a 
commencement  of  action. 

Little  by  little  this  action  relaxes  the  con- 
tracted muscles  and  after  the  regions  of  the 
neck,  the  shoulders,  the  loins,  and  the  hips, 
the  impulse  extends  to  the  muscles  of  prehen- 

149 


Never  Grow  Old 

sion  and  of  locomotion  and  to  all  the  deep- 
seated  organs. 

With  practice  and  use  of  the  method  the 
lightest  pressures  aid  in  sounding  the  state  of 
the  muscles  and  in  finding  out  what  direction 
to  give  them  in  order  to  remain  always  in 
harmony  with  the  supreme  law. 

Muscular  impulse  is  the  soul  of  the  method. 

It  is  by  this  that  everything  is  rectified  in 
the  organism,  but  on  the  express  condition  of 
directing  it  according  to  the  original  plans  of 
the  being  and  of  the  law  of  nutrition. 

The  action  of  the  impulse  is  explicable  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  immediate  on  all  the  super- 
ficial muscular  system  which  envelops  like  a 
sheath  all  the  special  deep-seated  muscles  and 
obliges  them  to  follow  the  rectification  which 
it  has  undergone. 

As  it  is  demonstrated  that  the  seat  of  all 
the  abnormal  muscular  contractions  is  con- 
stantly in  the  superficial  muscular  system,  one 
understands  that  in  rectifying  this,  one  rec- 
tifies all  the  others  which  are  dependent 
upon  it. 

150 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

One  can  take  account  to  what  extent  the 
deep-seated  systems  suffer  from  the  retrac- 
tions of  the  general  superficial  muscular  sys- 
tem by  the  state  of  constraint  in  which  are 
found  all  the  joints  of  the  toes,  the  ankle-joint, 
the  thoracic  members,  etc.,  and  by  the  relief 
and  deliverance  felt  when  the  relaxing  takes 
place  under  the  action  of  the  impulse. 

One  must  seek  the  cause  of  all  the  impedi- 
ments, of  all  the  pains,  and  of  all  the  infirmities 
of  locomotion  in  the  trouble  produced  in  the 
relations  between  the  superficial  muscles  and 
the  deep-seated  muscles. 

This  constraint  weighs  naturally  on  all  the 
organs;  the  proof  of  it  is  in  the  general  well 
being  which  all  the  sick  experience  in  the  chest, 
the  heart,  the  stomach,  the  head,  and  also  in 
all  the  apparatus  of  locomotion  by  the  use  of 
the  method  of  superficial  tractile  rubbings. 

One  cannot  explain  this  well  being  except 
by  the  relaxation  produced  in  all  the  interior 
viscera  and  by  the  solidarity  of  the  tissues. 

The  distension  thus  obtained,  thanks  to  the 
impulse,  can  then  be  considered  as  one  of  the 

151 


Never  Grow  Old 

greatest  benefits  which  could  have  been  given 
to  humanity. 

The  rectification  of  the  form  is  a  palpable 
thing:  one  feels  it  take  place  under  the  fin- 
gers drawing,  by  means  of  light  pressures,  the 
muscular  masses  to  re-establish  the  regular 
contours  according  to  the  plans  of  the  being. 

This  is  what  permits  us  to  affirm  that  the 
superficial  muscular  system  comes  back  first 
into  the  regularity  and  harmony  of  its  re- 
lations with  the  underlying  muscles,  and  that 
all  the  other  systems  follow.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  it  is  joined  to  the  deep-seated  sys- 
tems by  cellular  or  adipose  tissue  which  leaves 
it  great  latitude  of  action,  mostly  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  the  joints  so  often  affected  by  the 
retractions. 

TECHNICAL  APPLICATION  OF  THE  METHOD 

We  know  the  laws  on  which  rests  the  con- 
ception of  the  method  of  rectification  of  forms 
by  superficial  tractile  rubbings;  we  know  that 
the  mode  of  action  of  this  method,  the  facts 

152 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

of  which  demonstrate  in  an  evident  manner 
its  constant  efficacy,  is  explained  in  the  most 
natural  manner  by  the  pulling  of  the  muscular 
surfaces  and  by  the  solidarity  which  joins 
together  the  three  systems  of  muscles,  bones, 
and  nerves. 

We  know  that  rectitude  of  form,  beauty, 
and  health  cannot  exist  separately.  The  ab- 
sence of  one  of  these  conditions  immediately 
suppresses  the  other  two.  Since  the  loss  of 
rectitude  abolishes  at  one  stroke  beauty  and 
health,  all  our  efforts  should  be  directed  to 
the  maintenance  of  rectitude.  The  reasoned 
application  of  the  method  of  superficial  rub- 
bings alone  can  attain  this  desired  result. 

It  is  then  to  this  that  we  will  have  recourse. 
And  it  is  for  this  purpose  that  we  are  going  to 
try  to  formulate  the  technique  with  as  much 
precision  as  possible. 

Let  us  suppose  a  subject  comes  to  us  asking 
the  aid  of  our  intervention. 

Our  first  care  should  be  to  decide  if  there 
is  an  alteration  of  the  form,  and  in  what  this 
alteration  consists. 

153 


Never  Grow  Old 

To  judge  this  question  it  is  necessary  to  be 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  rules  of  aesthetics 
which  constitute  rectitude,  that  is  to  say  the 
static  equilibrium  and  the  functional  harmony 
of  the  organs,  and  to  recognize  the  signs  which 
show  its  existence. 

In  order  that  there  may  be  a  static  equilib- 
rium there  must  be  an  absolute  parity  between 
the  two  lateral  sides  whose  union  constitutes 
the  human  form.  To  be  assured  that  the  par- 
ity exists  it  suffices  to  place  a  plumb-line  at 
the  crown  of  the  head,  and  let  it  fall  down  to 
the  end  of  the  vertebral  region  of  the  sacrum. 

If  there  is  parity  the  line  will  exactly  follow 
the  vertebral  axis  passing  along  the  posterior 
median  line,  represented  by  the  spinal  proc- 
esses, and  will  fall,  without  a  curve,  at  the 
intergluteal  fold ;  repeating  the  same  operation 
in  front,  the  line  will  follow  the  anterior 
median  line  passing  by  the  symphysis  of  the 
lower  jaw,  the  middle  of  the  sternum,  and  the 
umbilical  scar,  to  end  in  the  pubic  symphysis. 
If  the  two  posterior  and  anterior  median  lines 
are  followed  by  the  plumb-line  one  will  be 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

able  to  affirm  absolutely  the  static  equilibrium 
of  the  individual. 

In  these  conditions  of  perfect  equilibrium 
the  head  should  harmoniously  overhang  the 
vertical  line  which  passes  by  the  projections 
of  the  spiny  processes  of  the  vertebral  column, 
at  least  one  third  of  its  anteroposterior  diam- 
eter. The  neck,  very  cylindrical,  will  be  as 
long  as  the  cervical  vertebrae  and  the  mouth 
will  be  regular  with  the  commissures  of  the 
lips  well  marked. 

The  shoulder  blades  will  occupy  the  3d, 
4th,  5th,  6th,  yth,  and  8th  ribs,  leaving  the 
2d  rib  absolutely  free;  their  vertebral  edges 
will  be  placed  parallel  to,  and  at  an  equal  dis- 
tance from,  the  spiny  processes. 

This  position  of  the  shoulders,  determined 
when  the  arms  are  hanging,  is  of  great  im- 
portance, since  this  alone  denotes  in  an  almost 
certain  way  the  rectitude  or  the  deformation 
of  all  the  other  parts  of  the  body,  according 
as  it  is  regular  or  defective. 

The  gluteus  muscles  will  not  go  farther 
beyond  the  limit  of  their  insertion  at  the  iliac 

155 


Never  Grow  Old 

ridges  than  the  thickness  of  the  muscle  itself 
which  perm'ts  the  waist,  reduced  to  the  thick- 
ness of  the  lumbar  muscles,  to  display  itself  to 
advantage  by  sinking  the  lumbar  region. 

The  muscles  of  the  thighs  and  calves  will 
be  accentuated;  the  knee  cap,  very  close  to 
the  tibia,  will  regularly  cover  the  femorotibial 
joint;  the  tibiotarsal  joint  will  be  very  flexible; 
the  tarsus,  metatarsus,  and  toes  will  be 
aligned  in  a  perfect  parallelism. 

The  projection  of  the  heel  bone  will  be  very 
marked  and  sharply  define  the  tendon  of 
Achilles. 

The  hand  will  be  straight,  rounded,  and  well 
lengthened;  the  fingers  will  be  supple,  taper- 
ing and  able  to  carry  their  faculty  of  extension 
to  its  extreme  limit.  The  wrist  will  be  supple, 
delicate,  and  very  free. 

The  genital  organs  will  continue  the  anterior 
median  line  and  occupy  the  exact  middle  of 
the  line  passing  by  the  pubic  symphysis  at  an 
equal  distance  from  the  two  folds  of  the 
thighs,  to  terminate  in  the  anus. 

In  these  conditions  man  will  be  in  the  cor- 
156 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

rect  state  of  equilibrium,  and  his  rectitude 
will  be  perfect. 

Everything  which  deviates  from  these  rules 
and  principal  lines  which  we  have  just  traced 
is  obviously  irregular,  abnormal,  and  requires 
to  be  rectified. 

To  rectify  an  altered  form,  whatever  may 
be  the  importance  and  longstanding  of  the 
deformation,  or  the  age  of  the  subject,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  proceed  in  the  same  general 
way  in  every  case. 

The  only  thing  that  will  differ  will  be  the 
number  of  treatments.  This  will  always  be 
in  direct  relation  to  the  degree  of  alteration 
of  the  form,  its  longstanding  and  the  age  of 
the  subject. 

Let  us  suppose,  then,  the  case  of  an  individ- 
ual in  whom,  after  careful  examination,  a 
deformation  has  been  found.  I  have  him 
undress  and  sit  on  a  stool  with  his  back  turned 
toward  the  light.  Placing  myself  directly 
back  of  him  standing,  I  commence  the  appli- 
cation of  my  method. 

This  application  will  have  its  point  of  de- 
157 


Never  Grow  Old 

parture  at  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  form 
which,  as  we  have  established  previously,  cor- 
responds exteriorly  to  the  crown  of  the  head, 
and  interiorly  to  the  point  of  the  brain  which 
is  the  seat  of  the  directing  Ego. 

This  application  will  consist  in  the  placing 
of  the  palm  of  the  hand  on  the  crown  of  the 
head.  Since  the  rotatory  current  of  the  nu- 
tritive molecule  likewise  starts  at  this  same 
centre  of  gravity  to  expand  in  successive  cir- 
cuits around  the  axis  of  the  form,  made  up  of 
the  crown  of  the  head  and  the  spinal  column, 
distributing  on  its  course  the  materials  for  the 
incessant  reconstruction  of  the  being,  I  will 
to  accomplish  my  purpose,  only  have  to  follow 
the  movement  of  the  current  in  its  immutable 
direction  from  west  to  east,  that  is  to  say  in 
the  direction  of  the  movement  of  the  earth 
around  the  sun,  to  accompany  it  with  my 
tractile  and  superficial  rubbings  in  all  its  cir- 
cuits in  order  to  facilitate  by  these  gentle 
frictions  its  march  forward  and  the  continu- 
ous efforts  it  makes  to  re-establish  its  course, 
interrupted  by  the  muscular  contractions. 

158 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

These  rubbings,  as  light  as  possible,  will  then 
commence  by  the  placing  of  the  palm  of  the 
hand  on  the  top  of  the  cranium  and  will  be 
continued  under  the  form  of  tractile  pressures, 
effected  with  as  much  slowness  as  gentleness, 
circularly  around  the  head  from  left  to  right 
in  back;  then  to  form  the  other  half  of  the 
circle  from  right  to  left  in  front.  All  these 
circular  rubbings  will  have  to  overlap  each 
other  in  such  a  way  that  no  point  can  escape 
their  helpful  contact.  They  have  not  only  the 
effect  of  making  the  current  active  and  of 
provoking  reactions  which  take  place  in  the 
molecular  materials  by  contact  with  the  sur- 
rounding air  whose  penetration  through  the 
pores  of  the  skin  they  facilitate;  but  also  by 
the  impulse  of  the  muscles  whose  parallelism 
they  re-establish  by  relaxing  them,  they  con- 
tribute to  the  reconstruction  of  the  interrupted 
molecular  current.  That  is  the  aim  and  this  aim 
is  always  attained  at  the  end  of  a  more  or  less 
long  time  which  never  exceeds  three  months, 
whatever  the  importance  or  the  longstanding 
of  the  deformation  or  the  age  of  the  subject. 

159 


Never  Grow  Old 

After  the  head  I  continue  my  rubbings  on 
the  neck;  then  on  the  shoulders,  on  the  upper 
limbs  as  far  as  the  digital  extremities;  on  the 
trunk,  the  buttocks,  the  abdomen,  the  lower 
limbs  as  far  as  the  extremities  of  the  toes. 
Not  one  point  must  be  forgotten.  Certain 
regions  like  the  base  of  the  cranium,  the  loins, 
the  hips,  the  joints,  require  more  prolonged 
rubbings,  and  a  greater  insistence.  It  is  by 
his  judgment  and  the  delicacy  of  his  touch 
that  the  operator  will  measure  the  duration  of 
the  time  to  give  to  this  or  that  region.  But 
what  must  never  vary  is  the  direction  in 
which  the  rubbings  must  be  executed,  and 
their  extreme  lightness.  One  must  never  for- 
get in  fact,  that  the  most  important  facts  of 
the  life  of  the  being  are  accomplished  at  the 
periphery;  and  that  exterior  pressures  do  not 
need  to  be  very  strong  to  provoke  alterations 
of  the  form,  and  therefore  interrupt  the 
course  of  the  molecular  movement,  that  is  to 
say  life. 

Just  as  the  plant  fades,  withers,  bows  its 
head,  dries  up  and  ends  by  dying  when  the 

1 60 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

nourishing  juices,  lacking  water,  do  not  reach 
it  any  more;  so  also  the  organs,  deprived  of 
the  molecular  current  which  brings  them  the 
materials  of  renovation,  wither,  become  atro- 
phied and  no  longer  accomplish  their  vital 
functions;  the  sick  being  languishes  and  dies 
if  we  do  not  come  to  his  aid.  To  come  to  his 
aid  is  to  re-establish  the  course  of  the  nutritive 
molecule  by  destroying  the  muscular  contrac- 
tions. This  is  the  r61e  of  the  method.  It  al- 
ways fills  this  r61e  with  success  when  it  is 
put  into  practice  by  a  skilful  hand,  well  di- 
rected by  an  intelligent  brain,  conscious  of 
the  importance  of  its  mission. 

In  these  conditions  the  operator  sees,  to  his 
great  satisfaction,  and  above  all  to  the  great 
joy  of  his  clients,  the  blessings  of  resurrection 
issue  from  his  fingers.  In  following  the  con- 
tours of  the  organs  with  his  hands  he  feels  the 
muscular  contractions  untie  themselves,  the 
shoulders  go  back  to  their  place,  the  head  erect 
itself,  the  face  find  again  the  beauty  of  its 
features,  the  deflected  joints  extend,  all  the 
movements  regain  their  suppleness,  locomo- 
11  161 


Never  Grow  Old 

tion  take  place  freely  and  without  fatigue  in 
an  absolute  rectitude.  In  a  word,  it  is  life 
that  is  reborn  under  the  fingers  with  the  vital 
current  which,  henceforth  re-established,  will 
carry  the  nourishing  and  living  juices  to  the 
extreme  limits  of  the  extension  of  the  form. 
Thanks  to  the  reasoned  intervention  of  the 
superficial  tractile  rubbings,  the  individual 
has  regained  his  rectitude  and  his  beauty,  his 
static  equilibrium,  the  harmony  of  his  func- 
tions and  perfect  health. 

This  is  what  alone  the  method  of  tractile 
rubbings  can  do ;  what  it  does  every  day. 

But  all  these  marvels  are  accomplished 
slowly,  gradually,  imperceptibly;  these  facts 
do  not  strike  us  by  their  suddenness;  the 
patients  themselves  perceive  the  good  which 
they  gain  only  progressively  in  proportion  as 
they  recover  the  freedom  of  their  movements 
and  of  their  functions,  as  they  see  their  form 
regenerate,  their  suffering  disappear,  and  the 
beauty  of  their  features  reappear  with  health 
and  the  perfection  of  form. 

For  the  application  of  the  method  to  the 
162 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

first  part  of  the  body,  that  is  to  say  the  head, 
the  neck,  and  the  upper  limbs,  the  patient  is 
seated  on  a  stool,  with  the  operator  standing; 
for  the  trunk  and  the  pelvis  the  patient  and 
the  operator  are  both  standing;  for  the  legs 
the  patient  is  standing  and  the  operator 
sitting. 

Each  treatment  requires,  for  conscientious 
accomplishment,  at  least  one  hour.  It  must 
cover  in  a  general  way  the  whole  surface  of 
the  body  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the 
extremities  of  the  fingers  and  toes.  It  must 
never  be  cut  short.  It  is  better  to  postpone 
the  treatment  than  to  give  it  partially  and 
imperfectly.  The  longer  the  treatment  the 
more  important  the  results  obtained.  A  treat- 
ment of  two  hours  is  more  profitable  than  two 
treatments  of  one  hour  each. 

We  have  just  said  that  in  all  pathological 
cases  springing  from  alterations  of  the  form 
only  the  method  of  tractile  rubbings  is  effica- 
cious in  giving  back  health,  because  this  alone, 
by  joining  its  action  to  that  of  the  law  of  move- 
ment of  the  formation  of  beings,  can  re-estab- 

163 


Never  Grow  Old 

lish  the  interrupted  course  of  the  nutritive 
molecule. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand,  indeed,  how 
the  absorption  of  any  kind  of  medicine  can 
have  a  curative  action  in  diseases  whose  cause 
is  either  the  lack  of  a  regular  and  incessant 
share  of  the  materials  of  nutrition  indispen- 
sable to  the  normal  exercise  of  life,  or  the  dis- 
comfort detrimental  to  the  good  functioning 
of  an  essential  organ  which  a  contraction  or  an 
abnormal  retraction  of  one  or  several  muscles 
can  occasion. 

In  these  cases  the  relief  brought  to  the  sick 
by  the  taking  of  medicine,  or  by  the  applica- 
tion of  a  local  remedy,  can  only  be  momentary 
since  the  real  cause  remains  and  medicine 
can  do  nothing  against  it. 

If,  in  certain  very  rare  and  exceptional 
cases,  a  cure  occurs  after  a  course  of  medica- 
tion it  is  because  the  interruption  of  the  nour- 
ishing current  was  slight  or  recent ;  and  because 
the  spontaneous  effort  of  the  current  itself, 
under  the  impulsion  of  the  law  of  formation  of 
beings,  has  sufficed  to  conquer  the  obstacle 

164 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

hindering  its  free  circulation.  It  is  not  to  the 
medicine  in  these  cases  that  we  must  attribute 
the  credit  of  the  cure,  for  it  had  nothing  to 
do  with  it. 

In  all  affections  having  as  original  cause  an 
alteration  of  the  form,  medicines  can,  however, 
have  a  certain  action,  and  it  is  this  action, 
always  in  relation  to  the  nature  of  their  re- 
spective properties  which  has  caused  and  jus- 
tified their  use  up  to  now,  for  lack  of  anything 
better. 

If  they  are  anodynes,  as  opium,  antipyrine, 
etc.,  they  will  act  on  the  element  pain  by 
causing  a  temporary  paralysis  of  the  sensitive 
nerves;  if  they  are  regulators  or  tonics  for  the 
heart,  as  digitaline  or  caffeine,  they  will  be  able 
to  regularize  and  tone  up  the  functions  of  this 
important  organ.  If  it  is  a  matter  of  chemical 
action  to  be  used  to  modify  the  altered  secre- 
tions of  the  organs  of  digestion,  hydro- 
chloric acid,  pepsin,  bile,  etc.,  will  be  able 
to  procure  very  appreciable  relief  for  the  sick. 
But  in  every  case  the  action  of  the  medicine 
swallowed  will  not  be  a  curative  action,  a 

165 


Never  Grow  Old 

definite  repairer  of  the  altered  organic  func- 
tions, but  an  action  purely  of  replacing  and 
of  substitution  for  these  functions  by  the  aid 
of  chemical  reactions  almost  similar  to  those 
of  the  natural  juices  emanating  from  the 
organs  themselves  before  their  alteration. 

Life  can  continue  by  aid  of  these  means 
which  I  will  qualify  as  artificial ;  but  the  organs 
will  not  have  f  otind  any  amelioration  in  their 
functioning.  This  substitution,  more  or  less 
acceptable  but  always  precarious,  is  not  du- 
rable. The  sick  organs  see  their  functions 
alter  progressively  more  and  more  as  the  action 
of  the  substitutes  loses  each  day  its  force. 
The  sick  person  declines  little  by  little  and 
dies  miserably.  Often,  even  in  the  last  period 
of  his  poor  existence,  the  medicines  which  at 
the  beginning  soothed  his  pains  do  not  bring 
the  slightest  relief  in  spite  of  increased  doses. 
It  is  to  these  transient  effects  that  the  action 
of  the  medicines  is  limited  in  the  cases  we 
have  just  outlined.  And  how  could  it  be 
otherwise?  All  these  medicines,  lacking  any 
direct  action  reparative  of  the  alteration  of 

1 66 


Rectification  of  the  Form 

the  form,  can  have  no  influence  on  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  interrupted  rotatory 
molecular  current,  the  sole  and  unique  cause 
of  the  bad  functioning  of  the  organs. 

Also  the  impotence  of  materia  medico,  in  the 
majority  of  chronic  affections  of  the  organs 
is  notorious. 

Certain  real  and  definite  successes  obtained 
by  surgical  intervention  which  is  daily  used 
more  extensively  in  organic  affections,  are  the 
dazzling  confirmation  of  the  solidity  of  the 
bases  on  which  rest  the  method  of  superficial 
tractile  rubbings  and  their  mode  of  action. 

When  these  operations  succeed  it  is  only 
because  the  bistoury,  having  suppressed  the 
insuperable  obstacle  has  permitted  the  molecu- 
lar current  to  resume,  at  the  same  time,  its 
natural  course  and  its  r61e  of  distributor  of 
the  materials  of  nutrition.  Often  the  method 
can  arrive  at  the  same  result  insensibly, 
without  violence,  without  risk,  and  without 
brutality. 

Materia  medica,  with  all  its  arsenal  of  drugs, 
could  never  attain  this  decisive  result.  None 

167 


Never  Grow  Old 

of  its  medicaments  has  the  power  to  open 
the  road  barred  by  the  obstacle,  to  permit  the 
nourishing  fluid  to  penetrate  the  being  in  all 
its  parts  up  to  the  extreme  limits  of  extension, 
the  express  condition  of  health. 


168 


CHAPTER  VII 

LIVE  IN  BEAUTY!     LIVE  LONG!    NEVER  GROW 
OLD! 

CAN  the  method  keep  these  three  beautiful 
promises?  Yes! 

My  affirmation  rests  on  a  solid  double  base: 
reasoning  and  facts. 

The  reasoning  rests:  ist  on  the  immutable 
law  of  the  universal  movement  which  has 
governed  the  formation  of  the  worlds,  which 
governs  their  relations  with  each  other,  and 
provides  for  their  eternal  conservation;  2d  on 
the  application  of  this  law  to  the  formation 
of  organized  beings. 

Indeed,  how  could  one  admit  that  organized 
beings,  of  which  man  is  the  most  perfect 
specimen,  can  be  placed  outside  of  the  sole 
law,  common  to  all  the  worlds,  including  the 
planet  on  which  we  live? 

169 


Never  Grow  Old 

No,  that  is  impossible.  It  is  a  fact  that  the 
law  which  has  presided  over  the  constitution 
of  the  worlds,  has  also  presided  over  the  forma- 
tion of  organized  beings,  expressed  in  forms 
determined  a  priori,  on  plans  always  the  same, 
invariable  for  each  specie  and  for  each  individ- 
ual. How  could  one  understand  the  fact  that 
beings,  having  vanished  in  death,  can  be 
replaced  by  new  beings,  sprung  from  them 
with  forms  absolutely  identical,  and  with 
similar  functions  and  this  in  an  endless  suc- 
cession, if  their  formation  and  their  ephemeral 
life  were  not  governed  by  the  action  of  a 
unique  and  eternal  law. 

We  know  this  law:  it  is  the  law  of  weight, 
generator  of  universal  movement,  whose  ac- 
tion on  the  living  atomic  elements  which 
occupy  the  space  from  the  ether,  in  which  the 
worlds  bathe,  down  to  us,  constitutes  the  form 
of  each  type  of  specie,  and  of  each  type  of 
individual  on  a  plan  determined  in  advance  by 
the  creative  force. 

But  in  order  that  life  may  persist  in  an 
organized  form,  it  is  indispensable  that  the 

170 


Live  in  Beauty !     Live  Long ! 

atomic  current  which  has  created  it  under 
the  influence  of  the  universal  rotatory  move- 
ment, a  current  of  composition  identical  with 
that  of  the  surrounding  air  and  of  the  ether, 
should  continue  to  traverse  it  in  all  directions, 
and  in  all  its  parts. 

The  least  interruption  of  this  current  would 
become  detrimental  to  the  individual. 

To  LIVE  IN  BEAUTY 

Logic  demands  that  everything  which  ema- 
nates from  a  law  eternally  true  and  eternally 
unchangeable  in  its  effects  should  be  absolute 
perfection. 

The  form,  then,  which  characterizes  an 
individual,  being  a  living  emanation  of  the 
law  of  weight  and  universal  movement,  will 
attain  the  plenitude  of  its  perfection  at  the 
same  time  as  the  plenitude  of  its  development, 
determined  by  the  extreme  limits  of  its 
extension. 

Arrived  at  this  point  of  his  evolution,  man 
will  have  acquired  the  plenitude  of  his  beauty. 
The  rectitude  of  his  form,  his  static  equilib- 

171 


Never  Grow  Old 

rium,  the  harmony  of  his  functions,  and,  in 
consequence,  his  health  will  leave  absolutely 
nothing  to  be  desired. 

As  long  as  this  state  lasts  man  cannot  expe- 
rience any  discomfort  or  any  pain.  He  will 
know  only  the  agreeable  sensations  of  life. 
This  is  what  I  call  "living  in  beauty." 

Can  this  enviable  state  last  a  long  time? 

Without  the  intervention  of  the  method,  no! 

To  be  certain  of  this  it  suffices  to  open  our 
eyes  and  look  around  us.  How  many  people 
do  we  see  with  absolute  rectitude  of  form; 
how  many  people  do  we  hear  say  that  their 
health  is  perfect,  that  they  do  not  feel  the 
slightest  pain,  the  least  suffering  or  fatigue, 
and  that  the  functioning  of  all  their  organs 
is  irreproachable? 

Alas,  how  rare  they  are,  those  who  are  really 
beautiful  by  the  absolute  rectitude  of  their 
forms  and  by  the  fulness  of  their  health ;  how 
rare  they  are,  those  who  have  no  defect,  no 
suffering,  no  weakness  to  point  out! 

And  this  is  easily  explained  by  the  proper- 
ties of  the  four  bodies  which  constitute  man 

172 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

and  the  form  which  represents  him.  These 
bodies  being  gases  are  extremely  elastic,  that 
is  to  say  able  to  compress  and  dilate,  therefore 
unstable  and,  in  addition,  easily  influenced 
by  all  the  events  and  accidents  which  can 
occur  in  daily  life. 

Do  we  not  know  that  the  lightest  compres- 
sion, that  the  least  muscular  contraction,  the 
smallest  shock,  the  slightest  wound  can  pro- 
voke an  alteration  of  the  form,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, an  interruption  in  the  current  of 
vital  distribution! 

Do  not  these  accidents,  and  many  others 
much  more  serious,  take  place  every  day, 
every  instant,  every  minute! 

Without  doubt  when  the  alteration  pro- 
duced in  the  form  is  of  little  importance,  the 
molecular  current  can,  by  its  own  force,  under 
the  influence  of  the  general  law  which  guides 
its  mission,  re-establish  its  free  circulation. 
But  how  often  does  the  alteration  of  the  form 
persist  wholly  or  partially? 

And  then  the  static  equilibrium  is  definitely 
broken,  the  functional  harmony  threatened, 


Never  Grow  Old 

beauty  affected,  and  sickness  or  impotence 
little  by  little  progressively  take  up  thei* 
abode  in  the  individual. 

Medical  science  has  heretofore  been  power- 
less to  ward  off  these  miseries.  It  can  put  at 
our  disposal  nothing  but  palliatives  as  we 
have  demonstrated. 

It  is  quite  different  when  one  has  recourse 
to  the  method  of  superficial  tractile  rubbings, 
founded  solely  on  the  law  of  the  formation 
of  beings  and  the  march  of  the  rotatory 
molecular  current. 

As  we  have  said  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  not  only  reason  but  facts  establish  in 
a  peremptory  fashion  the  constant  success  of 
the  intervention  of  the  method  in  maintaining 
or  re-establishing  the  perfection  of  the  form. 

If  I  take  an  infant  at  its  birth  under  my 
supervision  it  is  in  my  power  to  help  him  in 
his  growth  and  development  until  he  has  at- 
tained the  extreme  limits  of  extension  deter- 
mined according  to  the  plan  of  the  law  of  the 
formation  of  beings  for  the  constitution  of 
his  type  represented  by  his  form. 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

Thanks  to  the  application  of  my  method, 
all  this  period  of  his  evolution  will  take  place 
without  the  least  deformation  having  been 
able  to  alter  the  perfect  rectitude  of  his  form, 
or  trouble  his  static  equilibrium  and  the  har- 
mony of  his  functions.  He  will  live  then  in  all 
the  plenitude  of  health  and  beauty. 

If,  now  that  the  child  has  become  a  man,  I 
continue  the  application  of  my  method,  he 
will  keep,  to  the  time  of  his  death,  the  purity 
of  his  type,  as  well  as  health  and  beauty  which 
always  go  together.  I  will  help  him  to  accom- 
plish all  his  mission  on  earth  without  his  hav- 
ing to  undergo  the  physiological  miseries,  the 
sufferings,  infirmities,  humiliations,  and  senile 
failings  which  form  the  sad  train  of  premature 
decrepitude.  The  man  will  have  lived  in 
beauty.  To  obtain  this  marvellous  result  it 
is  only  necessary  to  apply  my  method  for  ten 
minutes  night  and  morning. 

As  I  have  said  previously  the  application 
must  reach  the  entire  surface  of  the  body  from 
the  crown  of  the  head  to  the  extremities  of 
the  fingers  and  toes.  The  rubbings  must  be 

175 


Never  Grow  Old 

very  superficial,  proceeding  in  successive  cir- 
cles, overlapping  each  other  in  such  a  way 
that  no  part  of  the  body  is  omitted.  Their 
direction  must  be  exactly  that  of  the  rotatory 
molecular  current,  that  is  to  say  the  movement 
of  the  earth  around  the  sun. 

Nothing,  then,  is  simpler,  more  convenient, 
and  less  expensive  than  the  application  of  this 
method.  Each  of  us  can  apply  it  himself  or 
have  it  applied  by  a  relative  or  friend.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  be  initiated  into  it,  to  be 
thoroughly  imbued  with  it  and  to  know  its 
technique.  A  few  days  will  be  sufficient  for 
this  initiation. 

In  these  conditions  when  it  is  a  matter  only 
of  preserving  the  rectitude  of  the  form  in  all 
its  purity  the  application  of  the  method  is, 
so  to  speak,  a  part  of  the  morning  and  evening 
toilet,  in  the  same  category  as  the  tub  and 
ensuing  rubbing.  It  is  just  as  much  a  habit  to 
make  an  examination  of  one's  form  and  to 
rectify  it,  if  it  is  necessary,  as  to  brush  one's 
hat  or  coat  in  preparing  them  to  go  out. 

This  simple  precaution,  if  well  taken,  will 
176 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

always  suffice  to  preserve  the  form  from  all 
alterations  for  the  simple  reason  that,  thanks 
to  their  easy  application,  an  interruption  of 
the  molecular  current  is  not  to  be  feared,  and 
even  if  it  should  happen  the  current  would 
soon  take  its  free  course  again. 

Every  time  one  has  remained  seated  for 
rather  a  long  time  it  is  well,  on  rising,  quickly 
to  perform  the  superficial  tractile  rubbings  on 
the  lumbar  region  and  lower  limbs  in  order  to 
bring  back  into  these  the  free  circulation  of 
the  nutritive  molecule,  momentarily  inter- 
rupted by  a  prolonged  compression. 

The  method  is  not  limited  only  to  prevent- 
ing alterations  of  the  form,  it  makes  them 
disappear  when  they  exist. 

For  these  cases,  whose  diversity  and  impor- 
tance vary  infinitely,  the  application  is  always 
the  same,  and  this  is  explained  by  the  basic 
principle  of  the  method.  To  facilitate  the 
action  of  the  molecular  current  in  its  efforts 
to  re-establish  its  course  by  its  own  force,  the 
tractile  rubbings  should  always  take  the  cur- 
rent at  its  initial  point  and  follow  it  to  the 

177 


Never  Grow  Old 

extreme  limits  of  the  extension  of  the  form  which 
it  must  reach  to  maintain  it  in  all  its  purity. 

Accordingly,  whether  it  is  a  question  of 
preventing  the  alteration  of  the  form,  or  of 
curing  it,  the  tractile  rubbings  must  follow 
the  direction  of  the  molecular  current  in  all 
its  circuits.  The  only  thing  that  will  differ 
will  be  the  duration  of  the  intervention  or 
its  greater  insistence  on  the  displaced  or 
retracted  parts. 

In  these  cases  the  application  will  have  to 
last  at  least  an  hour,  ordinarily  two  hours; 
and  in  certain  cases,  three  or  even  four  hours. 

The  longer  the  treatment  the  quicker  the 
result. 

A  daily  or  twice  daily  application  is  the 
rule;  but  a  treatment  every  other  day  is  the 
minimum  that  one  can  require  to  attain  an 
absolute  rectification. 

The  duration  of  the  treatment  varies  be- 
tween one  week  and  three  months.  Interven- 
tion is  always,  in  every  case,  crowned  with 
success. 

The  rectification  goes  slowly,  progressively, 
178 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

almost  insensibly;  the  patient  does  not  truly 
perceive  the  real  benefits,  which  it  procures 
for  him,  except  in  proportion  to  the  recovery  of 
his  form ;  getting  back  little  by  little  the  har- 
mony of  his  functions,  his  health,  and  beauty, 
he  acknowledges  then  the  power  of  the  method 
and  manifests  his  joy  in  living. 

To  preserve  the  good  which  has  returned, 
he  has  only  to  put  into  practice,  morning  and 
night  for  ten  minutes,  the  method  of  tractile 
rubbings  in  the  direction  of  the  vital  current 

The  method  can  exert  its  powerful  action 
at  any  age.  But  the  rapidity  of  its  benefits 
is  always  in  inverse  relation  with  the  age  of 
the  patient,  the  longstanding  and  importance 
of  the  deformation. 

Thirteen  years  ago  while  observing  my  old 
elm  I  discovered  that  the  law  which  governs 
the  formation  of  organized  beings  is  no  other 
than  the  law  of  gravitation  which  rules  the 
great  universal  movements  of  the  worlds. 

In  reflecting  upon  it,  it  could  not  have  been 
otherwise.  Why,  indeed,  should  the  organized 
being  have  escaped  the  action  of  a  unique  law, 

179 


Never  Grow  Old 

immutable  and  eternal  which  regulates  the 
life  of  the  whole  universe? 

Before  Copernicus  and  Keppler  everyone 
thought  the  earth  immobile.  What  efforts 
Galileo  made,  what  struggles  he  endured  be- 
cause he  wished  to  make  the  idea  of  Coperni- 
cus triumph. 

There  is  no  one  today  who  does  not  believe 
that  the  earth  revolves,  and  that  Copernicus 
was  right.  Still,  up  to  now,  no  one  had 
dreamed  that  the  laws  formulated  by  Keppler 
could  be  applied  to  the  formation  of  organized 
beings;  and  that  the  great  universal  current 
established  between  the  planet,  its  inhab- 
itants, and  the  ether  was  indispensable  to 
the  upkeep  of  life  in  the  beings  placed  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth ;  that  it  furnished  the  only 
elements  in  the  eternity  of  centuries  capable 
of  ceaselessly  renewing  beings  in  the  typical 
form  which  characterizes  them,  in  proportion 
as  they  disappeared  in  death. 

However,  no  theory  gives  similar  satisfac- 
tion to  the  mind  to  explain  the  perpetuity  of 
identical  types  in  the  perpetuity  of  centuries. 

1 80 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

Also  I  can  affirm  today  without  fear  of 
being  mistaken  that  if  the  law  formulated  by 
Keppler  has  existed  through  all  eternity,  just 
as  much  before  the  discovery  of  Copernicus 
as  after,  the  law  of  the  formation  of  organized 
beings,  which  is  only  a  deduction  from  it  and 
an  application  of  it,  has  existed  through  all 
eternity  in  concurrence  with  it.  This  fact  is 
as  clear  to  me  as  the  axiom  of  geometry:  two 
and  two  make  four. 

If  the  law  of  the  formation  of  organized 
beings  is  true — and  it  cannot  be  otherwise  on 
pain  of  denying  the  existence  of  the  great 
law  of  weight  which  directs  the  destinies  of 
the  universe  and  which  has  never  been  at 
fault — the  method  of  rectification  of  the  form 
cannot  be  false,  because  it  rests  entirely  on 
the  same  principle  and  acts  in  accord  with  it. 

All  the  applications  of  the  method  that  I 
have  made  during  thirteen  years — and  they 
are  numerous — have,  without  exception,  given 
the  happy  results  that  I  had  foreseen  and 
announced  in  advance. 

The  first  of  these  applications  was  made  on 
181 


Never  Grow  Old 

myself.  I  was  then  sixty-eight  years  old.  I 
an  now  eighty-one.  I  can  affirm  that  my  gen- 
eral health  and  my  strength  have  considerably 
improved,  and  that,  for  thirteen  years,  the 
harmony  of  my  functions  has  not  been  trou- 
bled a  single  instant. 

I  regret  only  one  thing,  not  to  have  dis- 
covered the  method  sooner.  Indeed,  if  it  is 
easy  for  me  to  stop  the  march  toward  the 
decrepitude  of  old  age,  it  is  impossible  for  me 
to  go  backwards.  What  I  have  done  for  my- 
self I  have  done  for  a  great  many  other  people, 
always  with  the  same  success ;  and  as  far  as  I 
have  been  permitted  to  see  these  people 
again,  none  of  them  has  stopped  the  use  of 
my  method  since  they  all  experienced,  as  a 
result  of  these  treatments,  a  well-being  hitherto 
unknown  to  them. 

I  can,  then,  affirm  that  the  title  of  this 
chapter  is  perfectly  justified.  It  is  a  beautiful 
dream  whose  realization,  dear  readers,  depends 
entirely  on  you. 

Indeed  is  it  not  making  you  live  in  beauty  to 
take  you  at  your  birth  and  conduct  you  in  per- 

182 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

feet  health  to  the  day  when,  as  late  as  possible, 
a  brutal  accident  takes  you  off,  without  having 
ever  known  either  suffering  or  weakness,  no 
matter  at  what  age  the  accident  takes  place? 

Is  it  not  allowing  you  to  live  in  beauty  to 
rectify  the  alterations  of  your  form,  to  re-es- 
tablish the  harmony  of  your  functions  and 
your  static  equilibrium,  that  is  to  say,  give 
you  back  health  in  all  its  plenitude? 

Is  it  not  increasing  in  considerable  propor- 
tions your  chances  of  longevity  to  limit  for 
you  the  causes  of  death  to  the  brutal,  violent, 
and  purely  accidental  causes,  in  suppressing 
by  the  application  of  the  method,  all  the 
causes,  by  far  the  most  numerous,  which  origi- 
nate in  an  alteration  of  the  form? 

Being  certain  by  the  regular  application  of 
the  method  to  live  in  beauty,  that  is  to  say 
in  health,  to  have  no  other  cause  of  death  to 
fear  except  brutal  accident,  is  it  not  a  hope 
realized  to  be  almost  certain  of  keeping  up  to 
an  unlimited  age  an  existence  full  of  charm 
since  it  cannot  be  troubled  by  any  physiologi- 
cal misery  until  the  fatal  day? 

183 


Never  Grow  Old 

Is  it  getting  old  to  add  the  years  to  the  years 
in  as  great  number  as  may  be,  without  seeing 
altered  either  the  elegance  of  the  form,  or 
the  suppleness  of  its  movements,  or  the  beauty 
of  its  features,  or  the  power  of  its  muscles,  or 
its  mental  and  sexual  powers?  No,  certainly 
not!  To  possess  all  these  blessings  can  have 
nothing  in  common  with  the  humiliation  of 
old  age. 

The  method  will  keep  all  these  promises. 

If  you  have  recourse  to  it  from  the  time  of 
your  birth,  and  if  you  practise  it  constantly 
until  your  death,  you  will  never  have  known 
suffering  or  weakness. 

If  you  appeal  to  its  power  when  you  have 
already  undergone  alterations  of  the  form  and 
known  pain,  it  will  render  incomparable  serv- 
ices in  rectifying  at  the  same  time  your  form 
and  your  functional  troubles,  and  in  giving  you 
back  your  health.  You  will  appreciate  all  the 
more  the  services  rendered  when  you  have  al- 
ready endured  suffering  and  organic  weakness. 

If  you  make  use  of  its  intervention  late, 
when  you  are  on  the  decline,  it  will  still  be 

184 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

useful.  Of  course  it  will  not  be  able  to  make 
you  go  backwards,  and  give  you  back  what  is 
definitely  lost.  It  will  not  be  able  any  more 
to  permit  the  nourishing  current  to  re-estab- 
lish its  distribution  by  forcing  a  passage 
through  cells  completely  obliterated  and 
withered  to  penetrate  to  the  extreme  limits  of 
the  form,  in  developing  its  maximum  of  ex- 
tension which  always  corresponds  to  the 
plenitude  of  force  and  health;  but  it  will  be 
able  to  stop  your  rapid  march  on  the  road  of 
decay  and  prevent  your  going  farther.  It 
will  keep  all  that  is  left  of  good  in  you  and  will 
avoid  for  you  the  cruel  humiliations  of  ulti- 
mate decrepitude. 

In  all  cases  of  deformation  occurring  in  the 
course  of  existence,  from  birth  to  extreme  old 
age,  whether  by  brutal  accident  such  as  con- 
tusion, sprain,  dislocation,  fracture,  rupture 
of  muscles  or  of  tendons,  wounds  of  all  sorts, 
or  by  illness  or  constitutional  diathesis  such 
as  glands,  deformation  of  joints  and  muscles 
by  atrophy  or  hyperatrophy,  by  faulty  atti- 
tudes, etc.,  the  Method  of  Physical  Culture  by 

185 


Never  Grow  Old 

superficial  tractile  rubbings  will  always  re- 
establish, without  violence,  perfect  rectitude 
of  form,  freedom  of  movement,  and  through 
this,  perfect  health. 

The  method  will  be  able  to  do  all  that  solely 
because  the  principle  on  which  it  has  been 
established  draws  its  force  from  the  universal 
law  which  governs  the  life  of  the  worlds  and  of 
organized  beings,  and  because  its  action  is 
effected  always  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
action  of  this  law  itself. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Man  is  represented  exteriorly  by  his  form. 

It  is  this  very  same  form  which  alone 
characterizes  him  and  serves  to  establish  his 
personality  by  permitting  him  to  be  distin- 
guished from  all  other  individuals  like  him. 

Form  is  the  result  of  a  unique  force,  gener- 
ator of  the  universal  movement  which  gov- 
erns the  worlds,  creates  beings  and  keeps  up 
life  in  them. 

This  force  is  weight.  It  is  accomplished 
1 86 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long! 

under  the  influence  of  the  immutable  laws  of 
Copernicus  and  Keppler  and  is  ruled  by  them. 

Form  is  infinitely  varied ;  but  whatever  may 
be  the  individual  it  characterizes,  it  is  made  up 
solely  of  four  essential  elements  always  the 
same:  azote,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon. 

These  four  bodies  are  gases.  Consequently 
they  are  able  to  be  infinitely  compressed  or 
dilated. 

One  meets  them  everywhere;  in  the  ether 
which  bathes  the  worlds,  in  the  atmosphere 
we  breathe,  in  constituted  forms.  One  can  say 
that  they  alone  are  everything  which  is,  every- 
thing which  lives.  It  is  their  incessant  move- 
ment which  represents  life. 

Thjs  universal  movement,  creator  and  pre- 
server of  form,  has  as  sole  original  cause  the 
difference  of  density  of  these  gases  in  relation 
with  the  place  they  occupy.  In  the  ether  the 
four  gases  attain  their  maximum  of  dilatation 
and  take  the  form  of  indivisible  atoms ;  in  the 
atmosphere  which  envelops  us  they  are  more 
dense,  more  agglomerate,  and  become  almost 
solid  in  the  organized  form.  Each  of  these 

187 


Never  Grow  Old 

atoms  is  living,  since  from  their  agglomeration 
results  the  living  form. 

Under  the  influence  of  weight,  an  incessant  liv- 
ing current  is  established  between  the  gases  of 
the  ether  and  the  condensed  gases  of  the  form ;  it 
is  this  current  which  creates  the  form,  develops 
it,  and  maintains  it  until  its  disappearance  by 
penetrating  it  and  distributing  to  it  the  living 
nutritive  molecule  which  renews  it  unceasingly. 

The  form,  wholly  contained  in  its  embryo, 
develops  in  conformity  with  a  plan  determined 
a  priori  by  the  initial  creative  force  which  is 
as  yet  unknown  to  us. 

It  grows  by  the  constant  bringing  of  the 
materials  of  nutrition  which  the  vital  molecu- 
lar current  deposits  around  its  axis.  This 
vital  current  has  its  point  of  departure  at  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  form,  represented  in 
man  by  the  point  of  the  brain  which  is  the 
seat  of  the  Ego.  It  takes  place  in  a  circular 
manner  from  west  to  east  around  an  axis 
formed  by  the  cranium  and  the  vertebral 
column  in  the  same  direction  as  the  movement 
of  the  earth  around  the  sun. 

1 88 


Live  in  Beauty !    Live  Long ! 

The  movement  of  development  of  the  form 
is  continued  thus  until  it  has  attained  the 
maximum  of  extension  which  has  been  assigned 
to  it  a  priori  by  the  creative  power  for  the 
representation  of  the  type  it  must  personify. 

In  attaining  its  maximum  of  extension,  the 
form  attains  the  perfection  of  its  beauty. 

As  long  as  man  preserves  intact  this  maxi- 
mum of  extension,  he  will  live  in  beauty,  that 
is  to  say,  in  the  plenitude  of  force  and  health. 
In  this  state,  all  pain,  all  weakness,  will  be 
unknown  to  him. 

How  long  can  this  ideal  state  last? 

It  will  last  as  long  as  the  vital  molecular 
current  functions  without  hindrance  in  the 
form,  to  the  extreme  limits  of  its  extension, 
by  ceaselessly  distributing  new  cells  to  replace 
those  used  up  by  the  needs  of  combustion.  In 
these  conditions  the  form  will  be  preserved  in 
all  its  purity  and  without  limit  of  duration. 

But  let  the  vital  current,  for  any  reason 
whatever,  undergo  an  interruption,  or  even 
encounter  a  simple  obstacle,  the  part  of  the 
form  which  will  be  no  longer,  or  only  imper- 

189 


Never  Grow  Old 

fectly  penetrated  by  the  nourishing  current 
will  be  quickly  in  danger  and  will  alter;  and 
the  repercussion  will  make  itself  felt  in  the 
individual  by  a  sensation  of  discomfort,  un- 
easiness, or  pain.  It  is  the  commencement  of 
decay. 

To  remain  beautiful,  that  is  to  say  to  keep 
force  and  health  until  death  without  passing 
through  the  humiliations  of  old  age,  to  arrive 
at  the  end  without  suffering,  as  late  as  possible, 
it  was  necessary  to  find  a  means  of  preventing 
all  obstacles  and  all  interruptions  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  nutritive  molecule  by  the 
vital  current  to  the  extreme  limits  of  exten- 
sion, and  of  thus  preventing  all  alteration  of 
the  form.  It  was  necessary  to  find  a  means  of 
re-establishing  as  promptly  as  possible  the  in- 
terrupted communications,  and  the  continuity 
of  the  vital  current  if  this  for  any  reason 
whatever  had  been  interrupted. 

Such  is  the  r61e  of  preserver  and  repairer 
which  my  Method  of  superficial  tractile  rub- 
bings proposes  for  itself.  Based  on  the  im- 
mutable law  of  universal  movement  and  on  its 

190 


Live  in  Beauty !     Live  Long ! 

corollary  the  law  of  the  formation  of  beings, 
acting  always  in  accord  with  these  laws  to 
second  their  efforts  every  time  that  they  meet 
an  obstacle  to  their  accomplishment  it  tries 
to  aid  them  in  surmounting  it.  I  am  happy  to 
be  able  to  affirm  that  my  method  has  attained 
as  completely  as  possible  the  goal  which  I 
decided  upon  in  instituting  it. 

The  facts  which  are  the  evident  demonstra- 
tion of  its  power  are  numerous  enough  to 
establish  this  power  definitely. 

Accordingly  I  am  permitted  to  say  today: 

If  you  wish  to  live  one  hundred  or  more  years 
in  full  beauty,  that  is  to  say  in  the  plenitude  of 
force  and  of  health,  to  arrive  at  the  end  without 
decrepitude;  in  a  word  if  you  wish  to  be  young 
up  to  one  hundred  years  of  age: 

Put  into  practice  my  method  of  superficial 
tractile  rubbings. 

Its  success  is  certain. 

It  has  besides  the  great  advantage  of  being 
inoffensive,  easy  to  apply,  and  free  from 
expense. 


191 


Let's  Be  Healthy  in 
Mind  and  Body 

By 

Susanna  Cocroft 

Tells  how  to  build  and  retain  health.  Physical 
efficiency  is  simply  constant  normal  action  of  the 
several  parts  of  the  body  in  a  harmonious  and 
concerted  plan.  Health  is  largely  a  matter  of  using 
intelligence  in  forming  correct  habits  of  eating, 
drinking,  bathing,  breathing,  resting,  and  regu- 
lar exercise.  It  tells  how  the  body  is  made ;  it  describes 
the  digestive  canal,  the  kidneys,  the  circulatory 
system,  the  lungs  and  respiratory  system,  the 
nervous  system  and  the  derangements  of  all  of  these. 
It  tells  about  heat,  cold,  and  proper  bathing; 
about  the  feet  and  their  care  ;  the  importance  of  habit, 
and  the  necessity  of  replacing  bad  habits  with  good 
ones ;  of  cultivating  an  optimistic  frame  of  mind. 
It  shows  how  under  right  conditions  the  body  will 
direct  the  work  of  wasting  and  rebuilding  automati- 
cally, leaving  the  mind  and  spirit  free  for 
development  and  direction. 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


What  to  Eat  and  When 

By 

Susanna  Cocroft 

Tells  all  about  the  problem  of  nutrition,  and  the 
importance  of  proper  foods;  the  purposes  of 
foods,  food  elements,  their  classification  and  the 
chemistry  of  foods.  It  tells  about  beverages  and 
condiments ;  poisoning  from  food,  the  preserva- 
tion and  adulteration  of  foods ;  heat  and  energy 
from  foods ;  the  repair  and  elimination  of  waste ; 
conditions  affecting  and  factors  influencing  di- 
gestion, such  as  season  and  climate,  age,  habit  of  eating, 
frequency  of  meals,  effect  of  exercise  and  breathing,  ven- 
tilation, fatigue,  sleep,  influence  of  the  mind,  and  effect  of 
circulation.  It  contains  suggestions  on  cooking  and 
treats  fully  the  extremely  important  question  of 
food  requirements  of  the  system,  giving  numerous 
tables  of  varied  rations  and  a  number  of  diets,  accord- 
ing to  occupation  and  to  conditions,  such  as  stomach, 
intestinal,  and  kidney  derangements,  nervous  disorders  and 
skin  diseases,  rheumatism,  leanness,  obesity,  and  conva- 
lescence. There  are  recipes  for  invalids  and  semi- 
invalids,  instructions  for  infant  feeding,  and  useful 
tables  of  measures  and  weights. 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


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